NEW YORK — With their wins at the U.S. Open, Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal are on the brink of history and could pass significant all-time records in 2014.
Serena now has 17 career Grand Slam singles titles and could tie Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova for fourth all-time with 18 Majors by winning the Australian Open in January. Next up would be Helen Wills Moody, whose 19 Majors are good for third place behind Margaret Court (24) and Steffi Graf (22).
Nadal, meantime, won his 13th Major on Monday with his four-set win over Novak Djokovic and could tie Pete Sampras at 14 for second all-time by winning the Australian.
Roger Federer, Nadal’s long-time rival, is the all-time men’s leader with 17, but Nadal — who is only 27 — looks like he could close in on that mark within the next couple of years.
“Let me enjoy today,” Nadal said late Monday after winning his second U.S. Open title and improving to 22-0 on hardcourts this year.
“Means a lot, this one, for me. Only thing I can say is the same like I do every time. I gonna keep working hard. I gonna keep doing my things to have more chances in the future to be competitive and to give me — produce more chances to win the tournaments like this one.
“So that’s what I gonna try. Then you never know when that start, when that finish, but 13 is an amazing number.”
Eight of Nadal’s 13 titles have come at the French Open, including winning the title earlier this year, and you have to figure he will be considered the favorite there for at least the next two or three years.
If you conservatively give him two more French Opens, that would take him to 15 Majors, one ahead of Sampras and two behind Federer. Then he would only need to win a couple of other Majors to tie and pass Federer on the all-time list.
Nadal has now won the U.S. Open and Wimbledon twice each, and the Australian once.
“I think [Nadal] has to definitely get to 15 [to be considered the ‘Greatest of All Time’],” Mats Wilander, who himself won seven Majors, including the 1988 U.S. Open, told SNY.tv before Nadal won the title. “I do think that he has to win the U.S. Open twice, he needs to win the Australian Open twice.
“So I think if Rafa wins here, wins the Australian Open one more time, then he’s got 14. Then I think we can start talking about potentially who’s the greatest player.”
Considering Nadal rebounded from a seven-month layoff due to a knee injury to go undefeated on the summer hardcourt circuit, there is no reason to think he cannot keep this level up for the foreseeable future. He played here without any tape on his knee and moved exceptionally well.
“I felt confident that if I am healthy I will keep having chances to compete for the tournaments,” Nadal said. “Win two Grand Slams in that year is something that I never thought. But if I am healthy to compete well again? Yes.”
Nadal is now a combined 16-5 against Federer and Djokovic in Majors, something that bodes well for him going forward, even if he intimated that Djokovic is a tougher opponent than Federer.
“If somebody is playing very well, the chance against Federer to somebody win easier is higher than against Novak, because there is one clear way to win the points,” Nadal said.
“Between Novak and me, every point is fighting, every point is long rally, every point is more strategy. This is very tough.”
At 32, Serena is five years older than Nadal, but is playing at the peak of her game, having won her second French Open and fifth U.S. Open in 2013.
Williams is 8-0 in Majors against her chief rival of the moment, Victoria Azarenka, which bodes well for potential future matchups against Azarenka.
Moreover, Serena appears to have an acute sense now of her place in history, aware that she just tied Federer at 17 and can tie and pass Martina and Chris in 2014 if she keeps playing at this level.
“It’s an honor to be even with Roger,” she said. “He’s been such a great champion throughout the years, and he’s just an unbelievable competitor and he’s still playing still, and he can probably still win more…
“Then to be compared with Crissy and Martina, not yet, because I’m still not quite there yet. I can’t necessarily compare myself to them, because, you know, numbers-wise they’re still greater.”
If Serena were to win two more Majors in 2014 that would give her 19, tying her with Wills Moody and putting her within striking distance of Graf.
Two Majors apiece in 2014 and ’15 would give her 21, just one fewer than Steffi.
Serena’s coach and boyfriend, Patrick Mouratoglou, believes there is nothing stopping her from challenging the women above her.
“I don’t see any reason why she wouldn’t,” he said.
Stay tuned…2014 could be a historic year in tennis.
