The German Boris Becker, winner of six Grand Slam tournaments, described Rafael Nadal this Saturday as “the best tennis player of all time on clay.”
“Clearly, for me, there will be no one like Nadal,” he remarked. Becker with his compatriot, also former tennis player, Tommy Haas and Toni Nadal held shortly before the start of the ATP 250 tournament in Mallorca on the fields of the Majorcan town of Santa Ponça.
“Nadal on clay is The best of all time. He has won 14 times at Roland Garros. We are talking clearly, at least for me, that there will never be anyone like him,” said Becker, a former professional tennis player who won his first “big” at Wimbledon at 17 years and 7 months.
“On powder, Nadal is something that goes beyond and it will take a long time to see something like it. But, it cannot be guaranteed if there will never be anyone like him on that surface,” said Haas, winner of 15 ATP individual titles. and reached number 2 in the ATP ranking in May 2002.
Toni Nadal, responsible for Rafael Nadal’s successful professional career, confessed that he and his nephew were “very fortunate” for the fact that “they have won important tournaments several times” previously conquered by the Swede Björn Borg and the American John McEnroe.
“For me it has been an unimaginable dream to win 22 Grand Slams after in 2005 the doctors told Rafael that his career was over due to his foot problem that caused him so much pain,” explained Toni Nadal.
The three invited by the organizers of the ATP 250 Mallorca tournament also analyzed the tennis rivalry between the Italian Jannik Sinner and the Spanish Carlos Alcaraz.
“It is impossible to say which of the two players will dominate tennis in the coming years,” Becker said. “From a young age, at 22 and 21 years old, they both have pressure. If we compare them with (Roger) Federer, Nadal and (Novak) Djokovic would have to play 15 more years. Maybe then we will be able to know which is better in five years because they will evolve and new players and rivals will emerge.
For Toni Nadal, “Alcaraz is better, he does more things on the court than Sinner.” “I see Alcaraz with more options to do more things. Sinner has a lot of control, although Alcaraz is somewhat better in terms of mentality. Both are equally strong on all surfaces because the game has become homogenized,” he added.
Tommy Haas, for his part, praised Alcaraz because “he has achieved something incredible at his age.”
“It is something very positive for this sport to have him because you know that he is capable of anything and you like to see him play. It is exciting to see him on a court because he has a wide range of resources in his game. He won in Indian Wells the last two years and gave a great show combining the movements of Federer, the defensive ability of Nadal or the energy of Djokovic,” he indicated.
For the German, Juan Carlos Ferrero (Murcian’s coach) “has helped Alcaraz a lot to improve and evolve his game.” “We will see what happens in fifteen years. Then they can be compared to the ‘Big 3’ (Nadal, Federer, Djokovic) and we will know what they have been able to win.”
