New York: Rafa Nadal is hungrier than Roger Federer and is likely to overhaul his Swiss rival’s grand slam title tally to become the most decorated player ever, according to former world No. 1 Mats Wilander.
The Spanish juggernaut crushed South African Kevin Anderson 6-3 6-3 6-4 in a one-sided US Open final on Sunday to claim his 16th major, leaving him three shy of Federer’s record.
The two players each won two of the grand slams in 2017 and with his performance at Flushing Meadows, Nadal has already laid down a marker for 2018.
“It was as easy as winning the French Open for Nadal. These guys are not even close, but he didn’t play one player in the top 20,” Wilander, at the US Open as an analyst for Eurosport, said in his daily chat on Sunday.
“But somebody’s gotta be the best player in the world and Rafa Nadal is the best player in the world. There’s nothing you can do to hurt him when they play on slow hard courts.
“Maybe you’d have to go to someone like Novak Djokovic to maybe beat him.” Djokovic, as well as his fellow multiple grand slam champions Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray, skipped the tournament because of injury.
“Nadal’s playing better than he ever has,” Wilander, a US Open champion in 1988, added.
“He’s made changes to the serve, he’s been varying more and he’s also taken the backhand much earlier as he doesn’t play as far from the baseline when the rally is in play.
“I think the lesson he’s that he’s always learning and he’s always gonna be changing things because he has that hunger to play the perfect tennis match.”
