Rafael Nadal vs Roger Federer: 5 reasons why it's not outrageous to suggest Nadal is the greater player

Rafael Nadal vs Roger Federer is a rivalry that has spanned more than a decade. And it has, at times, been considered bigger than the sport of tennis itself.

Having met for the first time back in 2004, the pair have collided a staggering 38 times. While Federer has won the last five meetings, it is Nadal who dominates the head-to-head 23 to 15.

There will always be a debate as to who is the greatest men's singles player of the Open Era., and these two legends are always at the forefront of that debate. Here, I present five reasons why it is not Roger Federer but Rafael Nadal who holds that honour.

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#1 Head-to-head record

It is not always justified to compare two players solely based on their head-to-head record, because there is always this one lesser player who has a better head-to-head against an objectively superior player. For example, Nikolay Davyedenko has a positive head-to-head record against Nadal (6-5), but no one in their right mind will suggest Davydenko was better than the Spaniard.

However, Nadal and Federer are in the same bracket of achievements, and so it becomes a bit easier to compare them on the basis of head-to-head. As mentioned above, Nadal leads 23-15 overall, but there's even more to this than seems apparent at first glance.

Federer leads the head-to-head on hardcourts 11-9 and 2-1 on grass. The big distinction, however, is that Federer has only been able to win just twice in 15 matches on clay.

In Grand Slams, Nadal holds the edge 9-3 - with a 5-0 record at the French Open. Even though Federer leads the head-to-head on hardcourts, he has only managed one victory in four attempts against Nadal at the Australian Open.

Nadal has also won more sets (67) than Federer (50), and more points too (3,670 as compared to 3,596).

Rafael Nadal, the King Of Clay

#2 More dominant on favoured surface

It is common knowledge that while Nadal loves clay, Federer's preferred surface is grass. Both have absolutely dominated their favorite surfaces, but the question remains as to who has been better on his favored surface - while also not being worse than the other on his least-favorite surface.

Federer has played 188 matches on grass out of which he has won 164, which means he has a win percentage of 87.2. Nadal on the other hand has played 424 matches on clay, winning a staggering 389 out of them - taking his win percentage to almost 92.

At the other end of the spectrum, Federer's win percentage on clay is 76 as compared to Nadal's 77. Nadal has been able to beat Federer at Wimbledon in 2008, whereas the Swiss has never beaten Nadal at the French Open in give attempts attempts. Overall, the two have played 15 times on clay and Federer has been able to triumph only twice.

Federer's win percentage of 89 at Wimbledon pales in comparison to Nadal's 97.5% at the French. Rafa has won Wimbledon twice and has a win percentage of 81 there, whereas Federer has won the French only once and his win percentage there is 80.

Nadal and Federer - two of the best ever

#3 Completed his Career Grand Slam quicker

The Career Grand Slam is a unique feat which has only been achieved by a handful of tennis players. As you'd expect, both Nadal and Federer have achieved it in their respective careers.

But what is interesting is the time they both took to get there.

1999 was the year when Federer first started playing Grand Slam tennis. It took him 40 Majors to finally get the Career Grand Slam when he defeated Robin Soderling (who had knocked out Nadal) in the 2009 French Open final.

Nadal, who started playing in Grand Slams in 2003, took only 26 tournaments to get his Career Grand Slam in 2010 when he beat Novak Djokovic in the US Open final.

So despite starting four years after Federer, Nadal managed to complete his Career Grand Slam just one year after the Swiss did it. To add to this, along with Andre Agassi, Nadal is the only male player to win the Career Golden Slam - the Career Grand Slam plus the Olympics singles gold medal.

El Matador

#4 Has a better career winning percentage

Tennis cannot be mastered by mastering a single surface; all world class players have to prove their mettle on all surfaces. While they may not be the best everywhere, they are still expected to have respectable numbers playing on their least preferred surfaces.

Federer has played a total of 1401 matches and he has been able to win 1149 out of them, which takes his overall win percentage to 82.

Nadal, on the other hand, has played a total of 1063 matches out of which he has won 877. The Spaniard's overall win percentage is 82.5, which is better than that of Federer.

The difference doesn't that much but we are talking about two players who are in a league of their own, so even a minor difference is significant.

Nadal has repeatedly won glory for his country

#5 Better performance for country

Winning Davis Cup and an Olympic gold is the ultimate dream for any nationalistic tennis player. Federer has been able to lift the Davis Cup for Switzerland only once, back in 2014, whereas Nadal has done it on four occasions for Spain (2004, 2008, 2009, 2011).

When it comes to the Olympics, Federer has won the gold in men's doubles along with Stan Wawrinka in Beijing in 2008 and he has also won the silver in men's singles at the London Olympics in 2012, where he lost to Andy Murray in the final.

Nadal on the other hand has gone one step further. He won the gold in men's singles at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing where he defeated Fernando Gonzalez of Chile. The Matador then went on to win the gold in men's doubles at Rio 2016, with fellow Spaniard Marc Lopez.

So even though Federer has 20 Grand Slams as compared to Nadal's 16, Nadal can be considered greater than Federer in at least five different aspects. Also, it is interesting to note that there is an age difference of five years between the two; it won't be surprising if Nadal ends up winning more Grand Slams than Federer by the time their careers are over.