Roger takes final bow in Nadal's season

Only Roger Federer could win one major title, make the finals of two others and the semifinals in a fourth and be able to call the year disappointing.

His demolition of Andy Murray wouldn't have rated a mention last year, but in 2008 Federer was finally beatable.

Not Monday. Perhaps he played more freely since Nadal wasn't on the other side of the net. In the end, that doesn't matter. Federer moved within one title of Pete Sampras, although in my system he already is the greatest player ever.

His win benefitted Nadal as well. Since a player receives bonus points based on the number of major titles won by players he has defeated, Federer's additional title added points to Nadal since he's beaten Federer in four finals.

That was enough to push Nadal to No. 9 with Andre Agassi soooo close in his sites. Nadal finished the year with 39 points, the eighth best year in open history.

Here's the top 10 greatest seasons:

1. Rod Laver, Australia, 1969, 55.00 (grand slam, still the gold standard)
2. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 2007, 45.50
3. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 2006, 45.00
4. Jimmy Connors, United States, 1974, 42.00
5. John McEnroe, United States, 1984, 41.00
6. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 2004, 40.50
7. Mats Wilander, Sweden, 1988, 39.50
8. Rafael Nadal, Spain, 2008, 39.00
9. Pete Sampras, United States, 1995, 37.00
10. Bjorn Borg, Sweden, 1978, 37.00

Here's my updated rankings of the 32 greatest men's tennis players of the open era.

Rank, Player, Country, Years, Total
1. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 2003-2008, 110.83
2. Pete Sampras, United States, 1990-2002, 92.63
3. Bjorn Borg, Sweden, 1974-1981, 90.42
4. Ivan Lendl, Czechoslovakia, 1981-1991, 86.07
5. Jimmy Connors, United States, 1973-1991, 85.57
6. John McEnroe, United States, 1979-1985, 81.72
7. Mats Wilander, Sweden, 1982-1988, 68.92
8. Andre Agassi, United States, 1988-2005, 65.32
9. Rafael Nadal, Spain, 2005-2008, 63.33
10. Boris Becker, Germany, 1985-1996, 62.07
11. Stefan Edberg, Sweden, 1985-1993, 59.37
12. Jim Courier, United States, 1991-1995, 52.67
13. Rod Laver, Australia, 1968-1971, 50.00
14. John Newcombe, Australia, 1968-1976, 48.60
15. Ken Rosewall, Australia, 1968-1974, 39.33
16. Guillermo Vilas, Argentina, 1975-1982, 36.12
17. Jan Kodes, Czechoslovakia, 1970-1973, 35.00
18. Arthur Ashe, United States, 1968-1977, 32.58
19. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, 2000-2005, 30.17
20. Marat Safin, Russia, 2000-2008, 29.00
21. Illie Nastase, Romania, 1971-1976, 28.83
22. Gustavo Kuerten, Brazil, 1997-2001, 25.33
23. Pat Rafter, Australia, 1997-2001, 24.50
24. Stan Smith, United States, 1968-1980, 23.50
25. Yevgeny Kafelinikov, Russia, 1996-2000, 23.00
26. Pat Cash, Australia, 1984-1988, 22.00
27. Michael Chang, United States, 1989-1996, 21.67
28. Andy Roddick, United States, 2003-2007, 20.67
29. Sergei Bruguera, Spain, 1993-1997, 20.33
30. Goran Ivanisevic, Croatia, 1990-2001, 19.83
31. Michael Stich, Germany, 1991-1996, 18.83
32. Johan Kriek, South Africa, 1981-1982, 18.00