Ethe Spanish tennis player, Rafael Nadal He is hours away from another milestone in his illustrious tennis career. To beat the Norwegian this Sunday Casper Ruud will establish himself as the top tournament winner Grand Slamreaching 22, in addition to confirming himself as the best exponent on clay courts, getting his fourteenth title in Paris.
Both are impressive marks for a tennis player who has based his career on his physical power, taking his body to greater demands and who, since 2005, has suffered from chronic pain in his left foot, due to an injury to the left foot, dnominated sndrome Mller-Weiss, which will most likely end his career in the coming months.
Whatever happens this Sunday, Nadal’s career is historic and for other people who faced him and have enjoyed his career over 17 years, the Majorcan tennis player will leave tennis as the best of all time. One of them is the former Spanish tennis player, David Ferrer, who currently narrates the Spanish tournament for the chain ESPN in Latin America and spoke exclusively to USA brand:
For me, even if he didn’t win, Nadal is already the best in history: He is the tennis player with the most Grand Slam tournaments in the Big-3 (Nadal-21-, Roger Federer-20- or Novak Djokovic-20-) and they three have won it all. As of today, Rafa, regardless of the fact that he won his 14th Roland Garros title, is already the best in history. That doesn’t change, because as of today he is already the winner of the three.”
The experience of having faced Nadal in a Roland Garros final
But in addition, Ferrer already knows what it is to dispute the most important title on the clay circuit with Rafa Nadal, since both faced each other in the final of the 2013 Roland Garros, with a clear victory for the Mallorcan in three sets: 6-3, 6-2 and 6-3.
From experience, Ferrer knows that the key to defeating Nadal is not only to arrive with enough mental strengthyou also have to exhibit a great technical level and also be aggressive:
“You have to go very well mentally, but If tensically you don’t have the quality or you don’t have a very inspired day, it’s going to be a very difficult day.. You need to be very aggressive.”
And he added: “Being very far down the field and speculating, you will not be able to beat Rafa Nadal. You will not be able to beat him at a rhythm. The most important thing is to be aggressive and finish the points at the net. In Casper Ruud’s case, he has to play him deep with his backhand forehand. and attack and then go up to the net. That is essential, but you also have to go out on a good day in terms of tennis and mentally”.
Nadal’s injured foot and the future of international tennis
“The foot injury is something that Rafa has been suffering from for a long time. It is clear that this pain does not allow him to play many tournaments or have a much longer schedule. Mentally he is also a bit exhausted. But it is clear that Rafa wants to win his fourteenth title in Paris and the foot will be fine”, said Ferrer about his colleague’s statement, who stated that he would prefer to have a new foot instead of another glass in Paris.
Whatever the future of tennis, with a veteran Big-3 and Nadal’s chronic injury. David Ferrer glimpses a new era in international tennis, with great figures that are emerging, like the also Spanish, Carlos Alcaraz, the greek Stephanos Tsitsipas, the german Alexande Zverev or the same Casper Ruud.
“Great players are coming,” he noted. “It depends a lot on how Rafa’s foot is, Djokovic he still has two or three very good years left and for Roger Federer, It’s already a bit more complicated. For this reason, the titles are going to be distributed much more, everything is going to be much more even”.
The tennis crisis in Mexico
Finally, the Spanish tennis player indicated that it is difficult to explain the reason for the lack of talent in Mexico for professional tennis, because it is a country with a great love for this sport.
“It’s a question that I also ask myself. People love tennis there and they love the sport. It is true that it is difficult to train in places like Mexico City on the subject of height. But it is strange that there are not better tennis players in a country that loves this sport and who supports him so much,” he concluded.
