Tennis news: Rafael Nadal could surpass Roger Federer’s sixteen slam total, says Pete Sampras
A week after Rafael Nadal’s momentous victory at United States Open tennis tournament in New York, six-time ATP World Tour winner Pete Sampras viewed that the 24-year-old Spaniard tennis ace has bright chances of surpassing Roger Federer’s record of a total of sixteen major trophies.
“In my opinion, if he plays smart and take care of his body and fitness, he can surely do great in the future considering the fact that he has already won so many at such a small age. But off course, he has to play extremely well on consistent basis if he wants to surpass Federer’s sixteen-mark. The only doubt in case of Nadal is that for how long his body can support him, otherwise his overall game leaves no questions in my mind,” said Pete during a news conference called to promote the BNP Paribas tennis tournament.
The former top-ranked American was of the view that the task is not easy for the Spaniard as it requires a lot of hard work, patience and accuracy to surpass Federer’s record of sixteen Grand Slam titles. He further added, “To be honest I don’t think that Nadal has yet to prove anything in terms of his power and game, as he has already won all the Grand Slam tournaments, the Olympic Games and has dominated his arch rival over the last eight months. So, his goal instead of surpassing that sixteen-mark should be to further work on improving his game and style of play.”
Pete, who captured his fourteen major trophies at the United States Open tennis tournament back in 2002, saw Roger eclipse his mark during the month of July last year at Wimbledon and dismissed the impression of the Swiss’ downfall since surpassing the record.
The American while commenting on Federer said that he has given a lot to the game of tennis beyond any measure of speculation. However, it’s natural that the Swiss cannot play the way he used to when he was twenty tw,o as he was more energetic and fresh at that time. But, even then Pete was of the view that he is still a strong favourite for every Grand Slam tournament beyond any doubt.
In fact, the Swiss tennis maestro has played quite fine throughout the season. He won the year opening major event, the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne. However, he couldn’t reach the final of any other Grand Slam this year but that does not means that his decline has started. There is nothing wrong with his game it’s just that some other players are getting better on the tour even then he still has a year or two to dominate in the world of tennis for sure. The 29-year-old Roger can definitely capture more major crowns in the next two to three years.
Pete still holds the record for most weeks at the number one position in the ATP World rankings; a total of two hundred and eighty six weeks to Roger’s two hundred and eighty five and said on the ongoing hot debate of Rafa’s period that, “ It is really tough to answer. Every decade has its own star. In my opinion now we have Nadal who has played some great tennis over the last few months. He rightly deserves the top-spot without any question.”
Sampras will join three other former top-ranked tennis players on 28 February, 2011, at Madison Square Garden for the BNP Paribas tennis tournament. The American will also refresh his old rivalry with his compatriot fellow, Andre Agassi in a best of three sets exhibition clash, where as John McEnroe will play against Ivan Lendl.
Tags: