Nadal: My generation has been dominant in tennis

Spain's Rafael Nadal thinks tennis will remain
the same once its "Big Four" retire, but he
knows his generation has ruled over the sport
for an impressive number of years.
"The current generation has been dominant,
consistent and at a very high level," the
world number two told DPA in an interview.
Nadal will not express an opinion as to
whether Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy
Murray and himself is one of the best groups
of players in history, because doing so would
show "pretty major arrogance." "But the other
day I saw some statistics: 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," he said.
"Over the 34 previous majors there had been 18
different winners." Over the course of his
career, Nadal, 27, has had historic rivalries
with former world number one Federer of
Switzerland, and the currently top-ranked Serb
Djokovic. However, he refuses to choose
between his two top rivals.
"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," he
said.
Nadal does not think that Federer is showing
signs of weakness, for example in his recent
temporary change of racket. Instead, the
Spaniard sees such moves as proof that a
player "wants to evolve, wants to look for
something else." "Even if things are going
well, it does not mean that they cannot go
better," he noted.
Federer has won a record 17 grand slam
tournaments but only one major in the past
three years. Nadal thinks that means only that
his priorities have changed.
"I don't think his main goal is to return to
the world number one spot. That is my feeling.
His goal is to stay competitive to win
tournaments that he really wants to win, more
than being world number one," Nadal said of
his historic rival.
Nadal thinks his sport will survive the
retirement of its dominant "Big Four,"
however.
"Tennis without Federer will still be tennis,"
he said.
"It will have lost one of the most important
ambassadors it has ever had in its history,
but the same will happen when Djokovic
retires, when Murray retires, when I
retire..."

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