Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and 16 Greatest French Open Champions in One Draw

[The Blond Blur]

This article is pretty dated at this point (written at the beginning of the 2013 clay season), but it's TTWesque in that it's a hypothetical who wins at their peak matchup.

Obviously there have been 2 more RG champs in Stanimal and Joker since 2013. I included the original draw and made some minor tweaks to the updated one. I switched out '80 Borg for the '78 version. I also switched the '01 for the '00 version of Kuerten (this one is close, but being MP down to Michael Russell did it for me) . I replaced '99 Agassi with '16 Joker in the top half and '90 Gomez with '15 Stanimal in the bottom half.

Feel free to make any changes to the draw, or even make the draw bigger.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles...16-greatest-french-open-champions-in-one-draw

*2013 OG Bleacher Report Draw

1. Top Half
   1. '08 Rafael Nadal vs. '92 Jim Courier
   '95 Thomas Muster vs. '83 Yannick Noah
   '88 Mats Wilander vs. '99 Andre Agassi
   4. '86 Ivan Lendl vs. '94 Sergi Bruguera
   Bottom Half
   3. '01 Gustavo Kuerten vs. '77 Guillermo Vilas
   '89 Michael Chang vs. '90 Andres Gomez
   '09 Roger Federer vs. '03 Juan Carlos Ferrero
   2. '80 Bjorn Borg vs. '96 Yevgeny Kafelnikov

*Updated The Blond Blur Draw

• Top Half
  1. '08 Rafael Nadal vs. '92 Jim Courier
  '95 Thomas Muster vs. '83 Yannick Noah
  '88 Mats Wilander vs. '16 Joker
  4. '86 Ivan Lendl vs. '94 Sergi Bruguera
  Bottom Half
  3. '00 Gustavo Kuerten vs. '77 Guillermo Vilas
  '89 Michael Chang vs. '15 Stanimal
  '09 Roger Federer vs. '03 Juan Carlos Ferrero
  2. '78 Bjorn Borg vs. '96 Yevgeny Kafelnikov

So, what do you fine folks think? Who's coming out on top of this fantasy RG champs only draw?

Spoiler: My pick

Edit: Poll added

 

[Breakpointerer]

Fed wins all hypotheticals, so

Spoiler: My pick

 

[Sabrina]

2008 Nadal vs 1978 Borg
...

The rest.

 

[FrontHeadlock]

FWIW, I think Agassi should be in the draw over Chang, Stan or Kafelnikov, as Agassi has 3 finals compared to 2 (1 in the case of Kafelnikov), and one of them was a 5-set loss to 2x champ/3x finalist in Courier.

 

[NatF]

2008 Nadal vs 1978 Borg
...

The rest.

Five sets, flip a coin.

 

[Incognito]

Nadal and Federer at their peak Will meet in the final of course. Rafa wins.

These 2 have the highest level on clay.

 

[Third Serve]

Rating mostly on finals performances.

First round:

08 Nadal > 92 Courier, 3 tight sets or 4 straightforward sets
83 Noah > 95 Muster, I didn't watch much of their title runs, but based on competition I might take 83 Noah
88 Wilander > 99 Agassi, again, just based on opponents
86 Lendl > 84 Bruguera, 3-4 sets

77 Vilas > 01 Kuerten, 4 sets
89 Chang > 90 Gomez, 5 sets
09 Fed > 03 Ferrero, 4 sets
78 Borg > 96 Kafelnikov, 3 sets

Quarterfinals:

08 Nadal > 83 Noah, 3-4 sets
86 Lendl > 88 Wilander, 4-5 sets
77 Vilas > 89 Chang, 4 sets
78 Borg > 09 Fed, 4 fairly tight sets

Semifinals:

08 Nadal > 86 Lendl, 4 tight sets
78 Borg > 77 Vilas, 4 sets

Final:

08 Nadal > 78 Borg, 5 sets

 

[TheNachoMan]

Guga 97‘ RG win >>>>>> all of RAFA’s 13 combined

 

[Third Serve]

Guga 97‘ RG win >>>>>> all of RAFA’s 13 combined

The number of sets he dropped along the way to that win is probably close to the number of sets Nadal's dropped in most of his RG titles combined, yes.

 

[PilotPete]

If Borg hadn't quit, who knows, maybe he would have 10 more FO.

 

[The Blond Blur]

Guga 97‘ RG win >>>>>> all of RAFA’s 13 combined

 

[Sabrina]

The number of sets he dropped along the way to that win is probably close to the number of sets Nadal's dropped in most of his RG titles combined, yes.

Because Guga often played his way through the tournaments into form. I think after saving a match point against Russsel in the 2001 edition, his level went up drastically.

 

[BeatlesFan]

Nadal and Federer at their peak Will meet in the final of course. Rafa wins.

These 2 have the highest level on clay.

Federer does not have a higher peak on clay than Borg, who won 6 FO titles. That's kind of glaringly obvious.

 

[Sabrina]

If Borg hadn't quit, who knows, maybe he would have 10 more FO.

Doubt it. Young Lendl already troubled him at that time. I think 2 or 3 more RG for Borg is plausible.

 

[malbaker86]

Rafa no matter what

 

[MeatTornado]

Obviously this comes down to Nadal v Borg.

Give Nadal a wooden racket and make Borg play lefty to even the playing field.