John Isner, Jack Sock and Sam Querrey have compared Rafael Nadal’s 81-match unbeaten streak on clay in 2005-07 to their good friend and fellow podcast host Steve Johnson’s 72-match winning run in the NCAA Division I men’s tennis championships. While Isner claimed that the Spaniard’s feat was greater, Sock and Querrey gave their reasoning in Johnson’s favor.

Nadal set the Open-era record for the longest winning streak on a single surface with his exploits between the 2005 Monte Carlo Masters and the 2007 Hamburg Masters. The 22-time major winner won 81 back-to-back matches on the red dirt during this period, before being stopped by Roger Federer in the Hamburg final.

Johnson, meanwhile, won 72 singles matches on the trot while representing the University of Southern California (USC) in 2009-12. The American’s singles prowess guided his team to four back-to-back NCAA team titles, and he was also crowned the singles champion in the last two years of his college tennis career.

Against that background, a fan of the ‘No Major Podcast’, which is hosted by former players John Isner, Sam Querrey, Jack Sock, and Steve Johnson, asked them to choose the superior winning run between Nadal and the former World No. 21.

Former World No. 8 Isner began by insisting that while Johnson was the ‘greatest college tennis player of all time,’ Nadal is one of the GOATs, thereby inferring that the latter’s feat was more impressive. At that point, Sock interjected by claiming that the Spaniard’s record was likely to be broken in the future, but his fellow American’s winning streak at college level remains unassailable.

“You are the greatest college tennis player of all time, but we’re talking about the greatest tennis player of all time,” John Isner said during the latest No Major Podcast. “I think the 81 matches on clay is just a tick more impressive than the 72 in a row in college.”

“I disagree completely, I think the 81 on clay will be beaten at some point,” Jack Sock said in reply to Isner. “The 72 in college will not be beaten at any point.”

“Rafael Nadal’s got the crowd behind him everywhere, Steve Johnson is going away venues” – Sam Querrey

Sam Querrey then asserted that during his 72-match winning streak, Steve Johnson had to deal with away crowds on a regular basis, making the achievement more impressive.

“Rafa’s got the crowd behind him everywhere,” Sam Querrey said. “Stevie is going away venues, away at UCLA, away at Georgia, away at Washington, away at Oregon State, these are tough places to play.”

For academic purposes, Nadal picked up 13 ATP titles during his run of 81 consecutive match-wins on clay in 2005-07, which included two Roland Garros triumphs.