Federer may have peaked higher, but Nadal's peak is still up there
Maybe I went too far in saying they're not comparable, if only because things should nearly always be "close" among the top performers, and Nadal's got a great peak to fall back on. I think it's relatively "close" in absolute terms, but clear enough for us to give Federer the definitive edge here. Every argument for Nadal might narrow the gap, but they all fall short of bringing him level. I'll amend my statement by saying it's more accurate to state it stretches credulity to argue his peak was
on par or
better.
and I think you're making the mistake of treating the competition as more important than the level of play Nadal attained there.
I don't know if I do, after all I still call his peak properly great. This is despite him likely having the worst average SOS of any 4+ time winner in any major aside from MAYBE Agassi at the AO (and even there...doubt....'00 AO was a very tough draw, '95 was no cakewalk either).
But still, take Federer, Djokovic and Nadal's 12 USO wins...whose runs would occupy the bulk of the bottom five, competition-wise? I think
at least 3 of Nadal's 4 do. Djokovic, for as maligned as his USO peak is, probably had toughest competition in any one run, in '11, though he was perhaps a bit fortunate to get past Federer (but then again, which win does Nadal have that's better than '11 Fed? And that's without Djokovic having a considerable match-up advantage). Those 12 collective '10/'13 pre-finals opponents have a combined 20-188 record against Djokovic and Federer and both at or near their best would be likely to dismiss these guys with similar aplomb (yes, even the Verdasco's, Feli's and Istomin's, considering how they actually played).
I wouldn't rail on about any of this if it wasn't for these two rampages being used by some as incontrovertible evidence that Nadal's peak is superior to Djokovic's at the USO (much less Federer's)...though at least v Djoko a plausible argument can be made, even if i disagree with it. I think in Nadal's case, some frame-of-reference bias also creeps in with '10 because of how dramatically his form improved overnight and wowed everyone. Does '10 Nadal win with '11 Djoko's draw? Probably, but he's made to look a lot more mortal.