Rafael Nadal said tennis will remain as it is even if Roger Federer and the other members of the fabled Big Four decided to retire. Yet, he believes his generation has produced one of the most dominant eras in the history of the sport.
In an interview with Spanish News agency DPA, the 13-time Grand Slam winner lauded the current crop of tennis players for producing one of the most intriguing and dominant era ever in tennis. Nadal, who bagged the French and U.S. Open this year after missing seven months due to an injured knee, also spoke about his rivalry with Federer and world's no.1 Novak Djokovic.
"The current generation has been dominant, consistent and at a very high level," said Nadal, who refrained from calling his group (Federer, Djokovic, Andy Murray, and himself) the greatest ever as he believes it would be "pretty major arrogance" on his part.
However, Nadal did provide some statistical numbers to back his claim about how dominant the big four has been for the last 34 major championships.
"Of the 34 most recent majors, there has been just one winner outside the rankings' top four (Juan Martin del Potro at the 2009 US Open), the rest went to Federer, Djokovic, Murray or me," Nadal added.
The Mallorcan netter said he shared some of the best moments of his career by playing his tennis rivals, notably Federer and Djokovic. However, Nadal did not specify which rivalry is more special to him.
"They are completely different matches, that you approach differently. They are special matches. With Federer, I have shared and continue to share a rivalry since I started out. We have lived very beautiful moments in our careers. But with Novak too," he said.
"I feel happy to have been part of such rivalries, and to have played matches like the ones I have played against them both," said Nadal, who's scheduled to play at the Shanghai Masters next month.
Meanwhile, Nadal's uncle and head coach Toni Nadal believes his nephew is getting closer to dethroning Federer as the greatest tennis player of all time. The older Nadal thinks Federer and his 17 Grand Slam titles are still the crowning glory of tennis, but Nadal's accomplishments as a 13-time Grand Slam champion along with an Olympic gold medal and four Davis Cup championships at the age of 27 is by far more impressive.
"Is 17 grand slams more important than everything else? Is it more important than Davis Cups? Is it more important than Olympic Games? [The] Olympic Games is [a] big thing thing for our sport. Rafa has won 26 Masters series titles and that is more than Roger," Nadal told the Australian.
For more Rafael Nadal news and tennis updates, read more at Latinos Post Sports.
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