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Does Rafael Nadal have the potential of beating Federer’s amazing record of 16 Grand Slam titles? That is the question on many tennis lovers minds after Nadal beat Novak Djokovic in the US Open final and clinched his ninth Grand Slam and his career Slam (winning all four Grand Slams, but not in the same year). He has the number one spot in the rankings by far and it is hard to see someone challenging him in that position unless he gets injured.

So how man Slams can Nadal win? In 2010 he won three, French Open, Wimbledon, and now US Open. This is of course amazing, but we should remember that Federer had a streak of winning two to three titles per year from 2004-2007. Of course Federer was more dominant then than Nadal is now, but it is not so far-fetched to picture him winning at least two titles in 2011, another two in 2012, and let’s say two more in 2013. The crazy thing is that if he does this pretty spectacular feat, he is still one short of Federer’s record. Surely, it would take something extra special to beat that.

The thing with Nadal is that he certainly is extra special. He has everything, all the shots, an extreme fighting spirit, an impressive physique and the problems he had with fast courts and serves – well, he is apparently past those now.

Does this mean that he will beat Federer’s record? Maybe.

The problem for Nadal is still the body, but also the competition. Just look at Novak Djokovic. He has gotten a bit too used to being number three in the world, but we saw him invest more of himself in the US Open than we have seen in a long time. He managed to beat Federer despite that his opponent played good tennis. That is not an easy feat.

Surely Djokovic must a win at least a few more slams? And what about Murray? And guys like Del Potro (when he gets back), Soderling, Cilic, and so on, can anyone dominate players like that?

Well it seem that if there is one player right now who has the ability to do that, it is Rafael Nadal. If he stays fit, I wouldn’t put it past him to actually make it four straight Slams next year, and then Federer could really start sweating as the greatest of all time.

But who knows? Maybe it is Federer who retaliates as so many times in the past? Or maybe someone else steps up to the plate? The beauty of it all is that we have to wait and see. And what a show we are in for.