Rafael Nadal insists he isn’t Spain’s greatest athlete ever
The 2010 U.S. Open winner, Rafael Nadal returned home Wednesday, insisting that his recent grand slam victory didn’t qualify him to be his country’s greatest ever athlete.
The 24-year-old Spaniard, who recently recorded his name in history as only the seventh tennis player to complete a career grand slam as a result of his Monday’s win at Flushing Meadows, said that any of his comparisons to the sport’s greatest is just “madness.”
“Being a tennis player, I took a significant step forward with this. The last six months have been simply incredible for me and my career. But I can’t say that I am the best ever athlete from my country, as I have seriously no idea about the result and I
am also not in touch with the history as well. All I can say at the moment is that it’s a great honor for me that I am even discussed among the sport’s greats”, said Nadal shortly after arriving at the Madrid’s Barajas Airport.
Rafael’s this year’s victories include the clay court French Open title as well as the Wimbledon trophy that have brought his total of major tournament victories to nine at such a young age. His glorious year is part of the great season of international
sporting success for Spain, which triumphed in the World Soccer Cup on the very first occasion and also saw Alberto Contador capture his third Tour de France in 2010 till now.
Nadal commented, “I cannot say much where my victories fit into this season. They all are of course very important. We are fortunate enough to live in an era of Spanish sport that will obviously be tough to repeat, but the possibilities are still there.
Another important thing is to enjoy the sport to the fullest. I don’t think that I am a complete player right now as there is still a lot where I can improve. Still, I am extremely glad and happy with the way thinks have worked out for me over the last few
months and simply can’t wish for anything else”.
Some of Spain’s greatest ever athletes include the five time road racing cycling winner, Miguel Indurain as well as two time Formula One world champion, Fernando Alonso. Rafa has replaced Manolo Santana, the four time Grand Slam winner as Spain’s greatest
ever tennis player, but still the player from Mallorca feels that he has a lot of areas to improve, particularly his physical fitness as he is known to be an injury prone player.
The Spaniard added that capturing three grand slam trophies this season wasn’t necessarily better than two years ago, when he had grabbed his first grass court grand slam crown along with Olympic gold; something Rafa regarded tougher given a total of four
years gap between the Olympics. Moreover, the world number one also preferred to wait and watch how he plays at the ATP final in London during November this year.
Rafael, whose improved serve helped him miss just a single set at the 2010 United States Open on his way to defeating Novak Djokovic in the title battle, said that Roger Federer is still the benchmark of the sport and shouldn’t be criticized for his recent
defeat in New York. The Swiss tennis maestro, who has so far won a total of sixteen grand slam titles, had wasted two match points in his semi-final loss at the hands of Djokovic.
“I would love to see Federer winning a couple of major titles in the future. He has achieved things in the last nine years that are practically next to impossible for any player to replicate. It’s extremely tough to play at your very best each season, however,
he has successfully managed to do it on many occasions so it’s quite acceptable to have a little drop,” said Rafa.
Tags: