After the greatest ever tennis match between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer at Wimbledon this year, some are now saying that Nadal is a better all-round player than Federer.

That’s really a step too far. He is a great player and fully deserves praise for his amazing improvements on grass since last year, but he still needs to prove himself on hard courts to become a great all-rounder.

He is, without doubt, the best clay-court player on the tour, and he’s now one of the best on grass, but there are more hard court tournaments than any other surface, and Nadal has only won one hard court tournament since March 2006 when he defeated Novak Djokovic in straight sets in Indian Wells in March 2007. This is the reason why he’s never been able to challenge Federer’s No.1 spot despite being No.2 in the world for three years.

If Nadal fails to have a good US Open Series this year, he could have to wait another year to finally become No.1 in the world. Federer has dominated in the US in recent years, and Nadal has never been beyond the quarter-finals on the DecoTurf surface at the US Open at Flushing Meadows. The surfact is famed for its reduced friction and low bounce, which doesn’t suit Nadal’s heavy top-spin forehands that form the basis of his game.

Nadal has time on his side though, and I feel he will grow to become the best all-rounder of his generation. Despite there being just five years' age difference between them, Federer is of a different era. Just as he has dominated much of the last four or five years at the top, so Nadal will do the same once Federer has gone.

Nadal is the Andre Agassi of the current era, the man capable of beating the best in the world on his day but not quite able to beat him enough to take his place as the best. If Nadal can become No.1 years before Federer retires, it will be good for men’s tennis. Nadal will continue to improve and force Federer to up his own efforts as well, but it will show to those who continue to doubt him that he can be the best in the world while Federer is still around.

I think even Federer himself will admit that his chances of ever dominating on clay or winning a French Open are slim. I don’t think he’ll ever have the game to defeat Nadal at Roland Garros, which means someone else will have to do that for him; that’s his only hope.

Other Tennis players of Nadal’s era - the likes of Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfis - will find themselves minor players in another period of dominance on the ATP Tour, fighting to get as close to Nadal as possible, but never quite getting close enough.

As it stands, when Federer starts to fade away, Nadal assumes No.1 with Djokovic taking No.2 in the world, with the rankings potentially staying like that for a number of years until Nadal’s decline begins and someone new comes to challenge.

The biggest psychological boost to Nadal is if he can overtake Federer in the next 12 months. If he can do that his edge over Federer will be greater and he could go on to dominate. While both are at their best it’s easy to imagine the next three finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon involving them, while Federer will continue to have the upper hand on the hard courts if Nadal doesn’t flatten his forehand. He’s not there yet, but it’s almost his time, and Nadal WILL become a better all-round player than Federer.