Nadal says winning all matches not his aim, lives for competition
Wednesday - July 25, 2018 8:16 pm ,
Category : SPORTS
Nadal says winning all matches not his aim, lives for competition
Mallorca (Spain) July 25 (IANS) Spanish tennis great and current world No.1 Rafael Nadal said on Wednesday that throughout his career he has been driven by the thrill of the competition rather than a desire to win 100 per cent of his matches.
On Wednesday the 17-time Grand Slam champion presented a new tournament bearing his name: the Rafa Nadal Open part of the ATP Challenger tour to be held in his home city Manacor on the island of Mallorca from August 25 to September 2 reports Efe.
"My goal has never been to win everything " Nadal said insisting he prefers "to be competitive every week and if I win all the better".
"At this point in my career winning is the essence of the sport but competing well and enjoying at highest level is what makes me really happy " the 32-year-old added.
Nadal said it was "an exceptional circumstance" that he has remained on top of the tennis world after turning 30 alongside Swiss legend Roger Federer 36 and Serbian great Novak Djokovic 31.
"There are two options to explain the fact that three players are dominating the (tennis) circuit for so many years and that we are in the top positions in the ranking for so many years " Nadal said.
"Either we have been special or the emerging players have not been special enough " he said adding "I cannot say which is correct".
However Nadal believed "a generation with special players" would replace him "either because they will be better than us in a short time or because of our age."
Nadal was upbeat about his new tournament on the Challenger tour the second-tier professional tennis circuit saying "Everyone has gone through a Challenger and competing in one of them is very important for tennis players."
"I played for half a year in Challenger tournaments before turning professional and it was a very interesting experience I enjoyed it a lot."
--IANS pur/bg
On Wednesday the 17-time Grand Slam champion presented a new tournament bearing his name: the Rafa Nadal Open part of the ATP Challenger tour to be held in his home city Manacor on the island of Mallorca from August 25 to September 2 reports Efe.
"My goal has never been to win everything " Nadal said insisting he prefers "to be competitive every week and if I win all the better".
"At this point in my career winning is the essence of the sport but competing well and enjoying at highest level is what makes me really happy " the 32-year-old added.
Nadal said it was "an exceptional circumstance" that he has remained on top of the tennis world after turning 30 alongside Swiss legend Roger Federer 36 and Serbian great Novak Djokovic 31.
"There are two options to explain the fact that three players are dominating the (tennis) circuit for so many years and that we are in the top positions in the ranking for so many years " Nadal said.
"Either we have been special or the emerging players have not been special enough " he said adding "I cannot say which is correct".
However Nadal believed "a generation with special players" would replace him "either because they will be better than us in a short time or because of our age."
Nadal was upbeat about his new tournament on the Challenger tour the second-tier professional tennis circuit saying "Everyone has gone through a Challenger and competing in one of them is very important for tennis players."
"I played for half a year in Challenger tournaments before turning professional and it was a very interesting experience I enjoyed it a lot."
--IANS pur/bg
