Rafael Nadal overcomes Fabio Fognini in four sets in US Open second round.
Rafael Nadal in US Open 2016. (AP)
The US Open, for so many years a test of the best player in the world, was also a showcase for another type of excellence.
The US Open’s final is an annual event that will feature a match-up between defending champion Novak Djokovic and four-time champion Roger Federer. It will also feature a match-up that may come to define who will be considered the greatest player not only in the history of tennis, but in all of sports.
The men’s final is going to be a tight battle and likely one of the most entertaining as well. As it turns out, it is going to be in the hands of two men that have no rival to speak of. Rafael Nadal is going to battle against Fabio Fognini as the greatest of them all.
I have been in awe of Nadal for more than three decades. There is a special place in my heart for him; and I have been envious of him for many years. He has been like no other tennis player.
I would put him alongside Arthur Ashe as perhaps the greatest athlete I have ever seen or played against. A player who literally took my breath away.
At the US Open in 1998, while driving back from the tournament in St. Louis on the way back to my home in New Jersey, I was so struck by the contrast between Nadal’s greatness and my own. He was playing great tennis. It was truly glorious to watch.
I was able to capture the image that would remain in my mind of Nadal that day. I was taking a picture of him during a training session, about to face a match-up against Roger Federer in the fourth round, when he looked at me and said, “That’s my father. He was a giant tennis player.”
Nadal was right, it was my father the tennis legend who was like a statue. I have always considered his greatness to be so profound that
