Nadal completes the set

[Guest]

Rafael Nadal has won the US Open and become only the 7th player to win all 4 grand slams along with Federer, Agassi, Laver, Emerson, Perry and Budge. He is the second youngest player to do it after Budge.

He moves ahead of Lendl, Agassi and Connors on to 9 grand slam wins, 7th on the all time list:

Federer 16
Sampras 14
Emerson 12
Borg, Laver 11
Tilden 10

Nadal is still only 24 so it’s not hard to imagine him moving up to at least third on that list. I wouldn’t be surprised if Federer wins some more but the chasing pack (Djokovic, Del Potro and Murray) have only got 2 slams between them so far and Djokovic and Murray are only a year younger than Nadal.

If Nadal wins here in January, he will be the first player since Laver to hold all 4 at the same time.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Nadal completes the set

Nadal's achievement is all the greater because he's managed this during the Federer era - indeed, his greatest triumph to date came against Federer in that epic Wimbledon final.

I think it's entirely possible that, injuries notwithstanding, Nadal could win all 4 slams next year.