Rafael Nadal, who recently reclaimed the top spot in the ATP world rankings, believes he might need three or four years of good health and solid results for him to surpass Roger Federer as the greatest tennis player of all time.
Nadal finally broke his silence after tennis legends Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi shared their respective opinion about his phenomenal comeback and emergence as strong contender to dethrone Federer for the title of the "greatest of all time" in the sport of tennis.
The Spaniard has already bagged 10 titles - including the French and U.S. Open crowns - since returning from knee injury earlier this year. On Saturday, Nadal successfully returned to the top of the ATP world rankings after Tomas Berdych retired while trailing 4-2 in the first set of their semifinal match.
The Spanish Bull believed breaking Federer's grand slam record of 17 titles seemed impossible, but then suggested that it may require him to stay injury-free for three or four years for him to have a chance of pulling off such remarkable feat.
"Here we were 27 years old and it's much more than what I ever dreamed," Nadal said. "So I'm going to try to keep working hard. If I'm able to do it, I am able to be healthy and to compete well for the next four years, I going to try to create opportunities to keep wining in important tournaments," Nadal told Tennis X.
Nevertheless, Nadal said he would still be very happy with his accomplishments on the tennis court regardless of whether he finishes his career as the greatest ever or not.
"The normal thing is that will not happen. But if that happens or not...the only thing I am sure [of] is when I am going to leave this tour, I am going to be very happy about what I did," said Nadal, who shared the record with Agassi as the only players to win all four Grand Slam tournaments (Australian, French, Wimbledon and US Open) and an Olympic gold medal in men's singles in their careers.
"I tried everything in every practice, in every match. I gave everything. When you try your best everyday, that's all that you can do. I think I did. So that's why I am gonna be happy," he added.
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