Rafael Nadal won his 13th Roland Garros (French Open) title on Sunday, defeating Novak Djokovic 6-0, 6-2, 7-5. This is Nadal’s 20th grand slam title, tying Roger Federer for #1 on the all-time list. Simply incredible what Nadal has done in Paris. He is 100-2 all-time at Roland Garros and has won the event four times without dropping a set (2008, 2010, 2017, and 2020). While Nadal still has more work to do to solidify himself as the greatest tennis player of all-time, there is no doubt that he is the greatest clay court player ever. It’s not even close. 

On the women’s side, history as was also made as Iga Swiatek became the first Polish player to ever win a grand slam title at just 19 years of age. Swiatek defeated #4 Sofia Kenin 6-4, 6-1 in the final. Like her idol Rafael Nadal, Swiatek took the Roland Garros title without dropping a set. What makes Swiatek’s run so incredible is that she did so while being an unseeded player who had previously never won a tournament on tour. Swiatek proved herself to be the best in the tournament, knocking off #1 Simona Halep 6-1, 6-2 in the 4th round before cruising on to win the title. 

Rafa is awesome.🙌🏻

He astounds me. I know he's not the greatest of all time, but it's interesting that he did this in the era of the greatest of all time. Except he had fewer years to accomplish it than the greatest of all time. And he has a winning record against the greatest of all time. So he must be at least the second or third best of all time, no?

I think he’s arguably the greatest of all-time. He’s tied for #1 all-time with the most slams and did it in an era with Federer & Djokovic. Everyone assumes Federer is the GOAT 🐐 and while his case is still very strong, Rafa equaling his record and likely surpassing him in the coming seasons gives Rafa a very strong case as well.

It seems so odd that Federer could be considered the GOAT when he and Djokovic have faced each other 50 times with Djokovic leading their matchups 27–23. Djokovic leads 13–6 in all finals and 11–6 in Grand Slam matches. 

Yeah, Fed's head to head against Nadal and Djokovic doesn't help his case. Nadal is 24-16 against Fed all-time and 14-10 against Fed in finals.

I think those head to head numbers have to be factored into the equation. I think Federer has been considered the GOAT for so long that people don't bother to look at the numbers and all the stats. But when you add them all up, I think Nadal has the edge and Djokovic is right there chasing him. It's crazy to say this, but we may end up ranking Federer #3 on the all-time list when it's all said and done.