Rafa Nadal savours being part of dream generation

NEW YORK: Belonging to a generation of era-defining champions is of greater importance to Spanish juggernaut Rafael Nadal than his long-term rivalry with Roger Federer.

World No. 1 Nadal won his third U.S. Open and 16th Grand Slam title with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 demolition of South African Kevin Anderson, triggering speculations on his chances of surpassing Federer’s record of 19 major championships.

“Of course this rivalry has been important for our sport, in my opinion,” Nadal said of his battles with the Swiss great.

“That involved a lot of people, and because of different styles, different characters, and we played for the most important things for such a long time, I think that was the great promotion for our sport,” Nadal told a news conference. “I feel happy to be part of this rivalry, but at the same time, I played even more matches with Novak (Djokovic) than with Roger in such important matches, too.”

Since Nadal won the first of this 10 French Open titles, he, Federer and Djokovic have won 43 of the 51 Grand Slams.

“In my career, I have been involved in different rivalries. I feel lucky to be part of all of them in some way. In another way, I have been in an era where three players achieved 19, 16 and 12 (Grand Slams),” he said, referring to himself, Federer and Djokovic.

“That’s a lot, no? There is a remarkable part of the history of our sport. So that means was difficult for everybody to win titles in this part of the, in this era.”