Rafael Nadal was arguably the best player during his time playing in 2012 as well.
Nadal in 2012 had the highest match winning pct. of all players (over 40 matches played) - .875
At the 2012 Australian Open final, he played Nole as close as one could without winning, pushing Nole and himself to the limit for almost 6 hours of wall-to-wall tennis, and on Nole's favorite slam surface to date.
Rafa swept the 2012 red clay season, winning Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome, and finally Roland Garros, defeating his chief nemesis Djokovic in all but Barcelona (David Ferrer). Of course one really can't count his blue clay loss in Madrid to his compatriot, Fernando Verdasco. :blush:
Recall that Nadal led the 2012 race until Lukas Rosol arranged his Wimbledon departure and subsequent vacation where Nadal took the opportunity to go jet skiing, fishing, golfing and play poker because he wasn't in condition to play tennis.
In 2013, the Clay King finally returned in February after over 7 months absence, and he incredibly continued where he had left off on the South American clay and even improved his hard court results despite his sad history of damaged knees.
It was so amazing that he was able to continue close to where he had left off, then win title after title. It was almost miraculous, and as some people on the inside, such as Mardy Fish, have said, "not normal".
Recall that Andre Agassi, during the 2013 Australian Open where Nadal was still missing in action, said:
''I found whatever time you take away from the game you need that time to double to be fully where you were when you left, that's my experience.''
''If he comes back in the first half of this year, you won't see him at his best, historically speaking with my experience, until this tournament next year.'' -
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And that's why in 2013, he is
Comeback Player of the Year....
Not much more to say really. Let's see what happens at the 2014 Australian Open
Respectfully,
masterclass
