‘Rafael Nadal has a great chance’ – GOAT race now wide open predicts former world number four
Rafael Nadal has a great chance of ending the race to be crowned the greatest of all time, especially if he can play at Wimbledon 2022, according to Tim Henman.
The 22-time Major champion has another opportunity at Wimbledon 2022 to stretch his lead in the race to win the most Grand Slam singles titles.
Should he win there, Nadal would be three ahead of both Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, and Henman hopes Rafa will play at SW19.
Henman, himself a four-time Wimbledon semi-finalist, was commenting after Nadal had claimed a record-breaking 14th Roland Garros title and 22nd Grand Slam singles title.
He said: “If Nadal is healthy, which is a big challenge now with this foot injury, can he win Wimbledon?
“Absolutely.
“That is incredibly exciting.”
Nadal last won Wimbledon 12 years ago in 2010 and has been by far his most inconsistent Slam since.
The Spaniard reached the final in 2011, losing to Djokovic, but has not played a championship match there since.
From 2012 to 2017 he did not progress beyond the fourth round.
But in 2018 and 2019, his last two appearances, Nadal did reach the semi-finals before losing to Djokovic and Federer respectively in those years.
On the Slam race in general, Henman continued: “In terms of who is going to end up with the most Grand Slams, a couple of years ago I would have said Djokovic for sure.
“But right now, with that little bit of distance, I think Nadal has got a great chance.
“It’s going to be fascinating to see.
“You have got another opportunity in three weeks’ time so fingers crossed.
“I so hope Rafa can be there on grass.”
Nadal has revealed that he too hopes he can play Wimbledon.
However, he added that is very much dependent on how treatment on his foot goes in the coming weeks.
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