Rafael Nadal, who failed to win a Grand Slam title for the first time since 2005, says that there is no reason to change up his game. The 14-time Grand Slam champion won three titles in 2015, but did not reach the semifinals at any of the majors.
"I'm not Federer, I'm Rafael Nadal. He has his style and I have my own style,” Nadal told AFP. “I for sure try to improve many things during all my career and for sure I'm working hard to be a better player. And if I am a better player for sure I will have the chance to play a bit longer.”
Nadal is 29 years old, while the 17-time Grand Slam champion Federer is 34 years old. This year, Federer reached the finals at Wimbledon and the US Open, and won six titles, including the ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati. Head to head, Nadal has 23 wins and 11 losses against Federer.
By most accounts, Nadal did not play extremely well this year, but he showed improvement by season's end and finished at No. 5. He beat Stan Wawrinka, Andy Murray and David Ferrer at the ATP World Tour Finals before falling to Novak Djokovic.
“I think it's obvious that I did not have the best season possible, but I am No. 5 in the world so actually it's not a disaster," Nadal said, but he would not discuss whether he can reach No. 1 again. "I don't know if I'm going to win it back, I'm working hard to create opportunities to compete for the best tournaments and I'm working so hard to try to make that happen.”