Three Reasons: Why Rafael Nadal Is Better Than Roger Federer.

Even if you completely disregard injuries!

“Who is better in head-to-head matchups?”

In tennis, because you play one-vs-one, head to head victories are more impressive than in team sports like football or basketball. In tennis, you cannot shift responsibility to teammates for wins or loses. The fact that Nadal gets the better of Federer more often than not is a huge tell:

Nadal is 9-5 against Federer in majors.
Nadal is 4-3 against Federer in majors if you don’t count Clay courts.
Nadal is 5-0, then, against Federer at the French Open.
Nadal is 23-15 all-time against Federer is all tennis tournaments.

“But Federer has won 20 majors and Nadal just 17…”

Although 20 majors is very impressive, context also matters.

Federer was born at a lucky time. 12 of his 20 majors came during weak competition between 2003-2007. Federer started his professional career in 1999. Pete Sampras retired in 2002. Federer finally won his first major in late 2003 and then won 11 more of his 20 in the subsequent four years (04-07). The 2^nd best tennis player in the world during that time was Andy Roddick. Here are the 12 majors Federer won during that span (and who he beat in the finals):

• 2003 Wimbledon over Mark Philippoussis.
• 2004 Australian Open over Marat Safin.
• 2004 Wimbledon over Andy Roddick.
• 2004 US Open over Lleyton Hewitt.
• 2005 Wimbledon over Andy Roddick (2nd time).
• 2005 US Open over old Andre Agassi (Agassi's last final’s appearance)
• 2006 Australian Open over Marcos Baghdatis
• 2006 Wimbledon over young Rafael Nadal (20 years old)
• 2006 US Open over Andy Roddick (3rd time)
• 2007 Australian Open over Fernando Gonzalez
• 2007 Wimbledon over Rafael Nadal (21 years old.)*
• 2007 US Open over young Novak Djokovic (Novak's 1st final appearance)

*This was that 5 set match Federer barely won. Nadal
would come back the next year to beat Federer at Wimbledon.

As you can see, Federer took advantage of a time that was the tail-end of Pete Sampras and Andre Aggassi and the very beginning of Nadal, Djokovic, and Murray to win a majority of his majors. Over Federer’s 19 year career (1999-current), more than half of his majors came between the years 2004-2007. While you can't blame him for taken advantage of bad competition, his accomplishments do have their accompanying context. It is very telling that Federer never won a major in his first four years, won over half his majors in the next four years, and then only won eight majors over the next eleven years. Federer was only 26 after 2007, so not-being-in-his-prime is not what caused the decline in winning. It was Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, and other decent tennis players getting into their primes. The competition got harder. And since the competition got harder, aka since 2008, Nadal has actually won more majors (14) than Federer (8).

“Isn't Nadal a clay court specialist?”

Nadal, while dominating Clay, also has done very well on all other surfaces. Nadal has won six majors off clay (four on hard court and two on grass). Where Federer has only won one major on clay court. So if you think about it, considering that grass and hard court are very similar and clay is much different: Federer is more the specialist than Nadal. Federer struggles mightily on clay courts where Nadal has been impressive on all courts. Nadal has bested Federer on both Grass (2008 Wimbledon finals) and hard court (Australian Open finals). Federer, on the other hand, has never come close to beating Nadal on clay.

(Side Note: Nadal has a gold medal in Olympics: Men's Singles. Federer does not.)

In conclusion, since 2008 when Nadal started his prime, he has won more majors than Federer (14 majors to Federer’s 8). Nadal is significantly better on both grass/hard courts than Federer is on clay (so who's really the specialist?). And Nadal simply beats Federer more often than not when they play against each other (on or off clay courts!). Therefore, I must concluded that Nadal is the better overall tennis player. Federer’s overall stats, while impressive, are also inflated because of his taking advantage of weak competition from 2004-2007. Nadal’s overall stats, which are not far behind Federer’s, were harder earned against the better competition from 2008-on.