When fans talk about Nadal’ AO 22 win there is very little respect because he ‘stole’ it from djokovic and would have virtually no chance to win if Djokovic played.
But Djokovics RG 23 win has no such claims about it. I’ve actually seen some fans even say it Nadal played djokovic would’ve bageled him…
Is Nadal’s victory less impressive because he didn’t beat Novak at AO? Of course it is. I don’t see how people can say it wouldn’t be more impressive to beat the best ever hard court player en route to winning a slam. However, he still beat who was at that time the best hard court player in the world in Medvedev who just beat Novak in straight sets at the USO. This means his AO was still very impressive but it would have been more impressive if he beat Novak AND Medvedev.
Novak has kind of deserved more RGs because of his level of play on clay but he’s run into Rafa too many times. So yes he got an easier run by beating an injured and inexperienced Alcaraz followed by Ruud in the final. This was an easier sim but deserved after the previous 10 years where he’s been unlucky.