Whose clay masters win was more difficult?

[BigThreeForever]

Listing some of the most difficult clay master title wins, and also noting the ranking UTS places the wins in terms of difficulty. In the three non-Nadal won titles, the winner beat Nadal, both Federer and Djokovic in the finals, and Alcaraz in the quarterfinals. Also, opponents are listed by their world ranking instead of their seeding, but both Djokovic and Alcaraz faced the toughest possible seeds after 1R.

Federer beat No. 23 Söderling in 1R, who would go onto beat Nadal at that year's French Open and make the final, then No. 16 Blake, No. 6 Roddick, No. 5 del Potro, and No. 1 Nadal himself, who was coming off the longest best-of-three sets match over Djokovic. Listed as the 3rd hardest clay masters title by UTS.

Djokovic beat No. 141 Kubot in 1R, then faced the toughest possible seeds from 2R onwards, beating No. 14 Wawrinka, No. 5 Söderling, No. 4 Murray in an epic, and then the two-time defending champion and No. 1 Nadal himself. UTS ranks this win as low as 6th, behind the other three, but also Nadal's 2013 Rome win and 2017 Madrid win.

Nadal beat No. 28 Mayer in 1R, then No. 26 Granollers, No. 7 Berdych, No. 6 Ferrer, and then defending champion and No. 1 Djokovic. Listed as the second hardest clay masters title by UTS.

Alcaraz beat No. 27 Basilashvili in 1R, then also faced the toughest possible seeds from 2R onwards, beating No. 11 Norrie, No. 4 Nadal, No. 1 Djokovic in an epic, and then defending champion and No. 3 Zverev. Became the first to beat Djokovic and Nadal in the same clay tournament, and is listed by UTS as the most difficult clay masters title won.

 

[nolefam_2024]

All these are bo3 finals so all are equally hard.

 

[InsuranceMan]

Blue clay Fedr

 

[Born_to_slice]

Djokovic Rome 2011 hands down

 

[Sport]

Beating Nadal on clay is tougher than beating Novak, so I have to give it to 2011 Rome.

 

[platypus50]

Djokovic 2011 Rome - he was flawless against Soderling, had that late-night epic vs Murray in the semis where he was at one point 2 points away from losing, beats Nadal again in a claycourt final (to prove that beating Nadal in the Madrid final the previous week was no fluke)

 

[RS]

Rome 2011 was terrible viewing.

 

[BeatlesFan]

2012 Madrid. Nobody could master blue clay except Roger!

 

[The Blond Blur]

The correct answer is RAFA’s 08 Hamburg run where he had to beat the rest of the Big 4 and Moya.

 

[7thKingSlam]

Listing some of the most difficult clay master title wins, and also noting the ranking UTS places the wins in terms of difficulty. In the three non-Nadal won titles, the winner beat Nadal, both Federer and Djokovic in the finals, and Alcaraz in the quarterfinals. Also, opponents are listed by their world ranking instead of their seeding, but both Djokovic and Alcaraz faced the toughest possible seeds after 1R.

Federer beat No. 23 Söderling in 1R, who would go onto beat Nadal at that year's French Open and make the final, then No. 16 Blake, No. 6 Roddick, No. 5 del Potro, and No. 1 Nadal himself, who was coming off the longest best-of-three sets match over Djokovic. Listed as the 3rd hardest clay masters title by UTS.

Djokovic beat No. 141 Kubot in 1R, then faced the toughest possible seeds from 2R onwards, beating No. 14 Wawrinka, No. 5 Söderling, No. 4 Murray in an epic, and then the two-time defending champion and No. 1 Nadal himself. UTS ranks this win as low as 6th, behind the other three, but also Nadal's 2013 Rome win and 2017 Madrid win.

Nadal beat No. 28 Mayer in 1R, then No. 26 Granollers, No. 7 Berdych, No. 6 Ferrer, and then defending champion and No. 1 Djokovic. Listed as the second hardest clay masters title by UTS.

Alcaraz beat No. 27 Basilashvili in 1R, then also faced the toughest possible seeds from 2R onwards, beating No. 11 Norrie, No. 4 Nadal, No. 1 Djokovic in an epic, and then defending champion and No. 3 Zverev. Became the first to beat Djokovic and Nadal in the same clay tournament, and is listed by UTS as the most difficult clay masters title won.

Feel like the context that Nadal was not very good in 2022 best of 3 and Zverev was dead tired kinda takes a bit away from Alcaraz's Madrid though. Also feel like Nadal's Hamburg 2008 is criminally underrated here, like why is 2013 Rome and 2017 Madrid above it, on top of these 4 here? We also have to consider both Djokovic and Federer played quite well at Hamburg 2008 which isn't necessarily the case in all of these title runs. And Nadal beat young Murray there along with Moya.

Of the 4 listed, I'd likely take Rome 2011 though.