Rafa Nadal made history this Sunday at the Australian Open by winning his 21st Grand Slam title. breaking the tie at 20 that until now he, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic maintained, and that places him as the tennis player with the most Grand Slam in the men’s category. But nevertheless this is not the only milestone or statistic that Nadal has broken during the Australian tour that began in early January in Australia after overcoming COVID-19 after contracting the disease during the exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi.
With the three wins he achieved at the ATP 250 in Melbourne (Griekspoor’s withdrawal before his match is not counted) and his seven wins to lift the title at the Australian Open, Nadal has managed to equal Novak Djokovic as the tennis player with the best winning percentage in the history of tennis. With the balance of 10-0 achieved at the beginning of the year, Nadal already has a balance of 1038 wins for 209 losses while Djokovic has 989 wins for 199 losses. Both have a winning percentage of 83.2%, beating Bjorn Borg (82.4%) and Roger Federer (82%).
In addition, with his conquest of the Australian Open, Nadal adds the 90th title to his record to consolidate himself in fourth place in history, four titles from the 94 of Ivan Lendl and extending the advantage to 4 with Novak Djokovic, fifth in this classification with 86.
The tennis player with the best percentage of the Big Three in the Grand Slam
Nadal has not only surpassed Federer and Djokovic in Grand Slam titles with his triumph at the Australian Open, but he has also surpassed them in percentage of Grand Slam matches won, since Nadal now has 87.9% of matches won in the ‘majors’ by 87.5% of Djokovic’s wins and 86% of Federer. However, Nadal is not the best in this statistic in the Open Era, since that mark falls on the mythical Bjorn Borg, who won a whopping 89.2% of the matches he played in Grand Slam tournaments.
Improves his balance in the fifth set but remains behind Djokovic
With his victory against Medvedev in the final of the Australian Open, Nadal accumulates a positive balance of 24-13 in matches that have been decided in the fifth set, with a percentage close to 65% of victories. In fact, you have to go back to the 2021 Australian Open to find his last loss in five sets, against the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas. Nadal this year accumulates a balance of 2-0 in matches decided in the fifth set after his victory against Shapovalov and the spectacular comeback against Medvedev.
However, Novak Djokovic improves Rafa Nadal in this aspect. The Serbian is the tennis player who best withstands pressure when the match goes to the fifth set, as shown by his balance of 36-10 and 78.3% of victories when the match is decided in the fifth heat. Still, Nadal maintains a higher percentage than Roger Federer in matches decided in the fifth set, as ‘His Majesty of him’ is 33-23 with a 58.9% win rate.