Nadal two matches away from big win at US Open

HISTORIC: The overlapping careers of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are starting to remind me of the glory years of Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova back in the 80s. Two great champions competing at the top of their games who had both accomplished so much that it got to a point where each of their grand slam wins meant something historic.

Spain’s Nadal joined Federer in the semifinals of the 2010 US Open on Thursday by beating countryman Fernando Verdasco. He must beat Mikhail Youzhny in Saturday’s semifinals to make the final at Flushing Meadows for the first time.

If he does so and beats either Federer or Novak Djokovic (they play the other semifinal Saturday) the win would make Nadal only the seventh man in the history of tennis to have won all four grand slam tournaments in his career (Federer joined that club last year). It’s no small accomplishment as players as great as Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker and Ivan Lendl were unable to do it.

Nadal would join an even more exclusive club of being one of two men (and three players overall) to have won all four slams plus the Olympic Gold Medal in singles. Only Andre Agassi has managed to do so among the men and his wife, Steffi Graf, among the women (Graf did it all in a single year!).

So there’s a lot riding on Nadal winning what would be his ninth grand slam tournament overall. Should Federer win, he would extend his record haul of grand slam titles to 17!

Like Chris and Martina, these two champions really are something special.