Rafael Nadal: 'Not because I have Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic...'

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The tennis world is experiencing a strong period of transition and never as in this 2021 the young athletes on the launch pad seem ever closer to the level of the Big Three, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, the three tennis players who dominated the world tennis in the last twenty years. The victory of Stefanos Tsitsipas in Monte Carlo is the last great result obtained by the nextGen and the overtaking, especially according to all tennis fans, seems imminent. This 2021 will probably see further growth of tennis players such as Medvedev, Zverev or Tsitsipas and the even younger Denis Shapovalov, Felix Auger Aliassime and our Jannik Sinner are ready to surprise. Despite this, in this 2021 there are still many records that the Big Three can conquer: from the fight for the number of Grand Slams to the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games and Roger Federer is ready to return to this battle. Roger Federer returned to the circuit last month playing the ATP tournament in Doha after an absence of over a year. The Swiss on the threshold of 40 years still has several goals to conquer and in this final phase of his career he is aiming for several records. First of all, the Swiss tennis player aims to reach the record of finals played and tournaments won in the ATP circuit. Connors has played 164 finals for 109 trophies while Federer has 157 finals with 103 titles. It is not easy given the advanced age and the stop caused by Covid which has slowed everything but Roger will try to achieve this goal. In addition to this Federer wants to break the record of matches played and races won by Connors himself: Jimmy is at 1557 races and 1274 wins, this record is easier to conquer with the 1513 games played and the 1242 wins for Federer. 20-time Major winner Rafael Nadal recently spoke with an English daily on a wide range of topics. Rafael Nadal also gave his thoughts on how Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic have motivated him throughout his illustrious career. Nadal was effusive in his praise for his rivals, with whom he has shared 58 of the last 70 Major events.

Nadal gave his thoughts on how Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic

"I always had great opponents in front, since the beginning of my career I had Roger Federer there and then Novak Djokovic came a little bit later," Rafael Nadal said. "I always had good examples of amazing players in front of me, competing for the same things so that helps to give you a clear way. But in some ways, I want to think – and I do believe it's really like this – that my personal motivation is much higher than the motivation to have other players in front," Rafael Nadal said. "Not because I need to be better because I have Roger or Novak in front of me. I want to think that I want to do it because that's the way I understand the sport. And of course, having these kinds of players in front of you helps to give you a clear way about the things you need to do better."

 

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2PbMRHT

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