He's beaten Nadal more times than anyone other than Djokovic. If we are generous to him we could say the real rivalry ended at 18-10 when afterwards in 2012 Fed was legitimately too old.
I think Fed had 2 games, 2008 W and 2009 Oz. If he'd won at least one of them he would be less damaged. But Nadal beat him in his prime in his own back yard. I don't have a problem with Fed more just some of his fanboys on this site who don't recognize the reality that Nadal is at least as good as Fed, that's why he beats him and everyone else, not some kind of match up issue. Fed himself I actually like and wanted him to win both those games. But he didn't as Nadal was better.
The think why h2h doesn't bother me that much it that off clay it's not loopsided.
Fed after his prime is 2-1 on grass and I think it was something like 8-7 on HC. And 2-2 in GS finals. If they were the same age, Fed would edge out Rafa on HC and grass.
The only problem is clay. Where Fed was 2nd and made all those final losing arguably to the clay coat. So, if you think goat should own everyone on every surface, fine. That means goat has to be almost perfect. But we don't have that player.
The thing is Rafa doesn't own Fed on every surface.
Until such player comes, Fed can still be the best. Goat doesn't mean perfect to me.
Look, I'm biased towards Fed, but still fair. I will re-evaluate this if Rafa gets to 17-19 majors. It would be impossible to call Fed goat at the time. I think they will share this, because debates will go on forever and opinions will be split.
If Rafa gets to 19, that means he will play top level for 3 years. So, he will ad maybe WTF titles, weeks nr.1 or more non clay majors.
