"Nadal back in GOAT race" claim Tim Henman and Mats Wilander

Rafael Nadal made his case for the greatest of all time stronger with a fascinating triumph in Melbourne according to Tim Henman and Mats Wilander.

In the never-ending debate of who is the greatest of all time in tennis, Nadal made a big step forward. He became the first player out of the three to win a 21st grand slam trophy. The win was a comeback over the 2nd best tennis player in the world who has been a dominant force in the game for the better part of the last couple of months.

Speaking on the matter, Henman said:

“No disrespect to Djokovic, this is about Nadal. Nadal hasn’t been in this conversation for so long because he’s been out injured. We really didn’t understand or know how his foot is going to be and then he had Covid, he had more complications. So then to finally arrive in Melbourne having not played any tennis, he plays the first week of the year and you’re thinking, ‘OK, he’s getting some matches under his belt’ – but they were only best-of-three sets."

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Wilander as well was not certain that Nadal was going to be able to do it. The Swede admitted that he had written off Nadal as possibly finishing with the most grand slam trophies:

“I have to say that I thought he lost the race when he lost to Novak Djokovic in the semis of Roland Garros last year. That was it, I thought: ‘Nadal is out of the race. He’s not going to be able. Maybe he wins another French, but most probably not, and he’s not going to win the other tournaments.’ And suddenly we’re here. It’s incredible.”