Rafael Nadal Says He’ll Need 4 Years Of Good Health, Results To Pass Federer’s 17 Slams
After his first round win over Santiago Giraldo in Beijing, 13-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal addressed the GOAT question that both Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi raised last week.
“Here we were 27 years old and it’s much more than what I ever dreamed,” Nadal said. “So I’m going to try to keep working hard. If I’m able to do it, I am able to be healthy and to compete well for the next four years, I going to try to create opportunities to keep wining in important tournaments.
“If that happens, I will have the chance to keep being in the top. If I am in the top, I will have a chance to win more tournaments. But to overtake Roger is something that nobody beat in I don’t know how many years of history. So going to be a big coincidence if that happens in a period of ten years.
“The normal thing is that will not happen. But if that happens or that not happens, only thing I am sure is when I am going to leave this tour, I am going to be very happy about what I did. I tried everything in every practice, in every match. I gave everything. When you try your best everyday, that’s all that you can do. I think I did. So that’s why I am gonna be happy.”
In the more immediate future, if Nadal, who’s already in the quarterfinals where he’ll play Fabio Fognini, wins two more matches in China he’ll return to the No. 1 ranking. He’s a perfect 24-0 this year on hardcourts and he’s won his last 28 on that surface.
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