Rafael Nadal says his generation of elite players is better than the previous one, which included Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Michael Chang, who combined to win 26 Grand Slam titles. This generation of Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray has combined to win 28 major singles crowns.
"The champions are champions in his era, in his part of his history," Nadal said. “The only thing that I can say is before, the top four players didn't play as solid as today is doing. I think all the tournaments, even if there isn't a Grand Slam, is 1000, 500 points tournaments, top players are always there in the finals, semifinals, playing in the final rounds. Probably in the past, didn't happen that a lot.
"That's probably because can be two things: the courts are a little bit slower than before, so the best have a little bit more chances to play the points, and finally if you have more time to play, the best player have better chances to win. Second is because the players of today have big rivalry, and they know if they don't play at his best in every tournament, going to be very difficult to be in the top positions at the end of the season. For that reason we have to be very focused mentally every week."
Nadal also added that he doesn’t believe today’s rivalries are diminished because they are not as bitter as they were back in 1970s and 1980s.
"I think is better like this," Nadal said. "For the kids especially, the education is very important. And if the kids who are following us see each other fight every week, probably in the future they are going to have the same. In my opinion, is not a good way the world have to work. What happen outside of the court doesn't affect what's going to happen inside the court. So we can be talking in the locker room before the match. That's not going to have effect what gonna happen in 10 minutes when we are on the court. Probably the opinion of the past champions, they have more troubles between each other. Is different. But for me the rivalry is only inside the court."