Will Nadal pass Federer as greatest player of all time?

It seems like only a year ago...

...that we were repeatedly engaging in the discussion of Sampras vs. Federer and who could be the greatest of all time. Oh wait, it was - and the differentiating factor seemed to be the fact that Federer had yet to catch up to and beat Pistol Pete's 14 Slams. Or that he, like Pete, had not been able to conquer Roland Garros.

So much attention was focused on these two, and comparisons to past greats, that people didn't seem to consider that just as quickly's as Sampras' place in the history books was usurped by Federer, Nadal is now handily on track to take down not some, but all of Federer's records. How so? Consider this:

Nadal vs. Federer at the same age

Here's a comparison of Nadal vs. Federer at 22 years of age:

And that's not considering the fact that even at his young age (5 years younger than Roger), Rafa has always had a winning record against Federer (overall). After the Australian Open 2009, Nadal has a 13-6 lead over Roger, and although pundits doubt that Nadal's physical game will enable him to keep winning as much as he is, Federer isn't getting any younger either.

The bottom line is that Nadal has more overall titles, a greater winning record, and more Major (Slam) titles at age 22 (typically the beginnin of a player's prime years (age 22 - 26)) than the two greats (Federer and Sampras) we're constantly drawing comparisons between.

Rafa is still young, which means he still has a way to go

As we mentioned, pundits are certain that Nadal will be unable to maintain the type of physical game that he plays as long as Federer or Sampras, who played their game with more finesse, taking their bodies to less physical extremes. There's also the problem of Rafael's knees, which seem to get worse the longer he plays on hard courts.

While it's fun to conjecture, as we all know, only time will tell. Stay tuned to Tales of Tennis for the latest on one of the greatest rivalries in tennis.