Rafael Nadal: 'The player who will be able to improve the most will be...'

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The rivalry between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic was less than three years old when they met in the 2009 Monte Carlo Masters final, competing for the 16th time and in the third final. Nadal managed a 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 victory after a close battle that lasted two hours and 43 minutes, having to work for every point against the Serbian. It was Rafa's fifth consecutive title in Monte Carlo, extending his streak to 25 wins in the Principality and claiming the 12th victory over Novak, the seventh on clay in the most matches played. Even though he still had to beat Rafa on the slower surface, Djokovic became his most prominent opponent on clay. Novak challenged Rafa 12 months ago at Hamburg and Roland Garros and kept in touch with the powerful Spaniard in the first two sets a few weeks earlier also in the Davis Cup. Novak gave it his all to finally end Nadal's Monte Carlo streak, but was only able to win one set, losing ground in the decider against a more reliable player at the time, both physically and mentally. They pushed themselves to the limit, with about 40 exchanges reaching the 10th shot mark. Novak kept in touch with Rafa there, showing off his fantastic court coverage and highest level groundstrokes that always required an extra shot from Nadal. The Spaniard had the advantage in the shorter and medium rallies, but he had to do his best to emerge as a winner, needing almost an hour to take the final set despite only seven games played! Nadal was more efficient on both the first and second serves, breaking five times and stealing the opponent's serve seven times to forge the decisive home lead. Rafael Nadal recently spoke to an English daily ahead of his participation at the Barcelona Open Open. The Spaniard discussed various topics during the interaction, ranging from the Next Gen potentially taking over to the significance of the record for most Grand Slams in tennis.

Rafael Nadal talks about the Next Gen players

"Lots of players, young, with power, potential – let’s see what’s going on in the next couple of years," Rafael Nadal said. "The player who will be able to improve the most will be the player who has better chances to have better success." Rafael Nadal was also asked to give his thoughts on the significance of the Grand Slam record in men's tennis. "Of course, when Pete achieved that great number of 14 a lot of people in tennis thought, 'Okay that’s going to be almost impossible to go beyond that for the next years'," Nadal said. "But in a relatively short period there is three players that have more than 14 and in the same era."

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

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