Mats Wilander: Federer is more talented than Nadal but achieved less than he should
Mats Wilander did not fail to comment on the most discussed topic in the world of tennis at the moment, namely the retirement of Rafael Nadal. The 7-time major winner expressed his huge respect for Rafa and drew a parallel between the career of the legendary Spanish tennis player and that of Roger Federer, who he believes is the big winner in this competition (Nadal has 22 Grand Slam titles, while Federer finished his career with 20 Grand Slam titles).
“It’s certainly a sad day ahead for tennis, but I can fully understand Nadal’s decision to stop right now. He brought so much passion, fighting spirit and unparalleled energy to our sport”, said Mats Wilander. “In a way, we could say that Rafa won more, than we would expect with the many injuries that have accompanied him throughout his career. He is undoubtedly very talented in terms of understanding and feeling for the game, but technically Roger Federer is the more talented of the two and because of that I think that with him on the other hand, he achieved less than he should have with this extraordinary tennis talent of his quality disappeared because his physique no longer allowed such a way of playing, and with that he lost faith in his own abilities”, added Mats Wilander.
Rafael Nadal announced his retirement after the Davis Cup finals. He has been ranked world’s number one in singles by the ATP for 209 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No 1 five times. Rafael Nadal has won 22 Grand Slam men’s singles titles, including a record 14 French Open titles. He has won 92 ATP-level singles titles, including 36 ATP Masters 1000 titles and an Olympic gold medal, with 63 of these on clay courts. Nadal is one of three men to complete the Career Golden Slam in singles.
“However, he gave his absolute best until the end, and this was seen even in his match at the Olympics against Djokovic totally outplayed, but caught up with a 0:4 deficit in the second set”, said also Mats Wilander. “Rafa is an incredible competitor and I don’t think anyone in the history of the sport has exceeded other people’s expectations more than himself. He’s in a league of his own in terms of that metric”, concluded the former world’s number one.
