Record in waiting?

Even before Rafael Nadal had completed his stunning win over Novak Djokovic in the final of the US Open, thoughts had already turned to whether the Spaniard could go on and beat Roger Federer's record haul of 17 grand slam titles.

Of the other Open Era giants of the game, Federer (once), Pete Sampras (once), Andre Agassi (twice) and Jimmy Connors (twice) have all won major titles after reaching that age. Rod Laver even completed the calendar year Grand Slam at 31 in 1969 - an achievement Nadal recently stated was "impossible for anyone" these days. So even if Nadal does suffer the expected dip next season, there is theoretically still plenty of time for him to come back, have another big year and then carry on winning the French Open for even longer. Given that Juan Martin del Potro seems to be the only man who could feasibly develop into a player who could trouble Nadal at Roland Garros (the other notable clay-courters are contemporaries of Nadal or older and come-from-nowhere, breakthrough talents are increasingly rare) it is easy to imagine the Spaniard winning two or even three more titles in Paris. That would leave him one behind Federer's total, meaning all he would need to draw level or even break the record is another 2008/2010/2013-like year of dominance to complement his reign on clay. It is unlikely that year will come in 2014, which will no doubt once more lead many to carelessly say that injuries are catching with him, but it should happen sometime within the next 36 months. Predicting the future is always a fool's game, but the odds seem stacked firmly in Nadal's favour.