Former Spanish tennis star Alex Corretja gave his thoughts on the GOAT debate and explained why Roger Federer can’t be ruled out of the race even though he has a losing record against Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Corretja, a former world No.
2, finished his career with a winning record against Nadal and Federer. Corretja never lost to Nadal as he twice defeated a young Nadal. Against Federer, Corretja collected three wins and two losses. “It’s normal that I beat [Roger Federer] on many occasions.
And what does that mean? Nothing. [All it means is] that my game, on his day, did not go sit well with his style because he was very young and failed a lot with the backhand,” Corretja said. “On clay, it was enough for me to send him many high balls there.
I caught [Rafael] Nadal very, very young too. He had no experience and I did. But all that is insignificant.”
Where Corretja beat Nadal, Federer
Corretja, a former two-time French Open runner-up, defeated a teenage Nadal when they first met at the Barcelona Open in 2003.
Nadal made a good start to the match but Corretja recovered to beat then the young Spaniard 3-6 6-2 6-1. A month later, Corretja and Nadal met again and again Corretja claimed a three-set win 6-2 3-6 6-4. Nadal never again got a chance to play Corretja as the former world No.
2 retired in 2005. When Federer arrived on the Tour, Corretja had been one of the best players and a premiere clay court player. Corretja met Federer twice on clay in 2000 as he defeated the Swiss at the French Open and Gstaad.
Federer clinched his first win over Corretja on the indoor hard courts of Rotterdam in 2001. Corretja got his revenge two months later as he beat Federer in back-to-back years at the French Open. Federer won the last meeting between him and Corretja as he defeated the Spaniard at the Madrid Masters in 2003.
