With Federer failing, who will dethrone king Rafa? | Thebigtip

For the first time in many moons, Roger Federer suddenly looks vulnerable, exiting at the quarter-final stages of this year’s French Open and Wimbledon championships.

The former world no.1 has now gone five months without winning a tournament, all the while his greatest rival, Rafael Nadal, continues to make considerable ground towards immortality.

Indeed some would argue the Spaniard is already there, given the fact he is arguably the greatest claycourter the world has ever seen.

Once regarded as the king of clay, Nadal now rules men’s Tennis with an iron fist, winning the past two Grand Slam tournaments, culminating in a straight sets demolition of Czech Republic star Thomas Berdych in yesterday’s Wimbledon final.

Unfortunately for men’s Tennis, there is no active player on the ATP tour who can deny a fit Nadal from achieving more Grand Slam success.

World no.2 Novak Djokovic simply doesn’t have Nadal’s mental capacity to fight on, given his lacklustre performance in the Wimbledon semi-finals against Berdych.

British hope Andy Murray also failed to deliver when it mattered the most, losing in straight sets to Nadal, despite the backing of a parochial home crowd.

Even the great Federer will struggle to compete with a player, who at 24 years of age, has already won eight Grand Slam singles titles.

Federer won his maiden Grand Slam at the same age, when he attained Wimbledon back in 2003.

As for Nadal’s other challengers, the likes of Robin Soderling, Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, Andy Roddick, Fernando Verdasco and Nikolay Davydenko are either far too inconsistent, or past their prime, to pose a considerable threat to the Spaniard’s chances of perhaps equalling Federer’s record 16 majors.

At the moment, the only thing destined to derail Nadal’s wonderful 2010 season is injury. If he remains fit however, expect the man from Mallorca to finally win that elusive US Open title.

Whether Nadal will go on and match Federer’s 16 Grand Slam tournaments will very much depend on the fitness and longevity of a player who has not played a competitive Tennis match since the third round of this year’s Australian Open.

At 21 years of age, Juan Martin Del Potro appears to be the man most likely to thwart Nadal’s quest to become the greatest Tennis player of them all.

The lanky Argentine has won his past three matches against Nadal, and arguably possesses the most intimidating forehand on the men’s tour when at full fitness.

There are few players who have the capacity to bully Nadal off the court, but Del Potro is an exception. The 2009 US Open winner is probably the only player whose game can thrive on Nadal’s lucrative topspin groundstrokes.

He showed it during the semi-finals of last year’s US Open, as he walloped Nadal in straight sets 6-2 6-2 6-2.

As Del Potro would later go on and show against Roger Federer, that result was not a one off.