French Open champion Rafael Nadal has said he is not fixated on the prospect of overtaking Roger Federer for most grand slam titles following his latest triumph in Paris.
The world No.2 defeated Dominic Thiem in four sets on Sunday to win a record 12th title at Roland Garros. A milestone that has been achieved by no other player at any other major in the history of the sport. Nadal’s overall grand slam trophy tally now stands at 18. Two adrift from that of Federer, who lost to Nadal in the semi-finals.
“It’s a motivation, but it’s not my obsession. If you ask me whether I would like it, of course.” Nadal told Spanish speaking press. “Is that’s a goal in my career, no. It’s not what makes me get up every morning or go and train and play. It’s not the way in which I view the sport, and it’s not the way in which I consider my sports career.”
“I don’t think my future will be worth any more if I equal Federer’s record or if I do something like Djokovic or whatever. I consider that I’m going much further than I dreamt about in my career.” He added.
At the age of 33, Nadal is four years younger than Federer. However, he isn’t the only player with a shot of breaking Federer’s record. Novak Djokovic, who has won three of the past four grand slam tournaments, is currently on 15. Out of the three players, Nadal has won the fewest matches at the four major tournaments. His total currently stands at 260, compared to 270 for Djokovic and 347 for Federer.
“You can’t be frustrated all the time because the neighbour has a bigger house than you or a bigger TV or better garden. That’s not the way that I see life.” He said.
“I just try to do it my way. I feel very lucky about all the things that are happening to me. And if, at the end of my career, I am able to win a couple of more Grand Slams and be closer to Roger, it will be unbelievable. If not, for me, it will still be unbelievable.”
A difficult year
Besides looking at what may happen in the future, he is relishing the latest achievement of his career after what has been turbulent past few months. During an injury-stricken 2018 season, he was only able to contest seven tournaments. Five of which were on the clay. Heading into this year, knee problems cut short his bid in Indian Wells and forced him out of the Miami Masters.
“I was not enjoying it too much, I was worried about my health. I was down mentally and physically after Indian Wells,” said Nadal.
“I was too negative. After Madrid and Barcelona, I was thinking about what I needed to do. I could stop for a while and recover or change my attitude and recover.”
Embarking upon this season’s clay season in mixed form, Nadal credits his turnaround to taking ‘baby steps.’ Something that was triggered during the Barcelona Open when he locked himself away and reflected on where his season was heading. Since April has has reached three consecutive semi-finals in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid. Following on from that, he won the Italian Open before his latest victory in Paris.
“I don’t think that making drastic changes or drastic improvements are a good thing. It’s better to take small steps that you can consolidate. And I feel that I have been able to do that over the past four weeks, every week a little bit better, every match a little bit better.”
Wimbledon next
The focus of the tour has now switched to the grass with Wimbledon starting in less than a month. A tournament Nadal hasn’t won since 2010. Out of the four majors, it is his worst performing grand slam in terms of wins. However, he has missed playing at the All England Club three times in 2004, 2009 and 2016.
“As everybody knows, I love to play on grass. And as everybody knows, I am not able to play so many weeks in a row like I did ten years ago, eight years ago. So I have to do my schedule.” The 33-year-old explained.
“Honestly, the last two years that I played at Wimbledon, I felt close (to my best) again. Even if the first year was that match against (Gilles) Muller, I played great tennis there too. I was very close to being in the quarter-finals, and last year I was one point away to that final.”
Nadal has confirmed that he will not play any warm-up events on the grass. Something he has done for the past two years. The last time the Spaniard played on the surface outside of a major was back in 2015 at Queen’s. He has won 82 titles so far in his professional career, but only four of those have been on the grass.
Following his latest win, Nadal has achieved 950 victories on the ATP Tour. The fourth highest of all time.
