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Rafael Nadal celebrates during Australian Open final

‘Rafael Nadal is the most successful player of all time – say it loud and clear,’ says Boris Becker


Boris Becker says it is ‘clear’ that Rafael Nadal is now the ‘most successful player of all time’ after his Australian Open win.

Nadal went into the tournament with precious little tennis after having his 2021 season cut short in April due to a long-standing foot injury.

He came through a gruelling two weeks, and an even more gruelling final against Daniil Medvedev, to win the first Grand Slam of the season, though.

It means he has now won more majors than any other man in history and joins Novak Djokovic as the only man to win each major multiple times.

“It was a day made for tennis history,” Becker told Eurosport.

“We didn’t have Nadal at the top of our list a fortnight ago. He was fit, won the preparation tournament in Melbourne.

“Before that, Nadal was injured for half a year. Now we are wiser and Rafa has broken the record of Federer and Djokovic.

“You make a mistake if you still call Rafa the clay court king. He has won on every surface and every Grand Slam tournament at least twice.

“He is the most successful player of all time, we can say that loud and clear.”

Rafael Nadal last won the Australian Open 13 years ago, and will head to Roland Garros as a strong favourite to extend his career majors count to 22.

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Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.