Who is better, Santana or Nadal?
Rafael Nadal leads with a GOAT score of 93.1 against 84.2 for Manuel Santana — a gap of 8.9 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
AthletesTeams
Santana vs Nadal
Shareable comparison — send this exact matchup to anyone.
Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Rafael Nadal above Manuel Santana: 93.1 vs 84.2. Rafael Nadal leads on Dominance, Longevity, Honours.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
NadalWinner
93.1Nadal wins: Dominance, Peak, Longevity, Honours, Statistics
Santana
84.2Santana wins: no category outright
Candidates
Locked to TennisShareable URL · /compare/manuel-santana-vs-nadal
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇪🇸 Rafael Nadal
93.1
Nadal leads in 5 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Rafael Nadal
2. Manuel Santana
Category breakdown
Season form · Form index per season
Career timeline · Form index per season
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
GOAT pace tracker
Through age 21 · Form index per season
1. 🇪🇸 Rafael Nadal23 titles
4 seasons by age 21 · 5.8 per season
Setting the pace at age 21
No verified birth date for Santana — shown in the pro-debut view instead.
Every career is cut at the season the athlete turned 21, so a rookie today is measured against exactly what a legend had banked by the same birthday.
| Metric | SantanaRetired | NadalRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam singles titles | 4 | — |
| Roland-Garros titles | 2 | — |
| Wimbledon titles | 1 | — |
| Davis Cup finals | 2 | — |
| Career titles | 72 | 92 |
| Grand Slam titles | — | 22 |
| Weeks at No. 1 | — | 209 |
| Masters 1000 titles | — | 36 |
| Match win % | — | 83% |
| Year-end No. 1 finishes | — | 5 |
| Olympic gold | — | 2 |
| Dominance w25% | 80 | 95 |
| Peak w20% | 92 | 95 |
| Longevity w20% | 80 | 90 |
| Honours w20% | 86 | 94 |
| Statistics w15% | 84 | 90 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Nadal93.1
Santana84.2
FAQ
Where does Santana beat Nadal?
Santana does not lead any of the five categories; Nadal is ahead or level on all of them.
How is the Santana vs Nadal score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Santana: 84.2, Nadal: 93.1.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Santana vs Nadal. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.