translated from Spanish: Rafael Nadal: “I’m ambitious, but a different ambition than Djokovic’s”

Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal is clear that he is “ambitious” in order to achieve more successes in his sporting career, although he believes he has “a different kind of ambition” to which Serbian Novak Djokovic may have in relation to the records, while he also does not doubt that one day someone will come along who will overcome what they have both done alongside The Swiss Roger Federer.” I want to win more Grand Slams, there’s no doubt about that, but Novak, not in a negative way, is more obsessed with this, more focused and these things mean a lot to him, but that’s not my focus on my career,” Nadal said in an interview published on Monday by the British newspaper ‘Metro’. Manacor’s thinks he has “a healthy ambition.” “Of course, I’m ambitious, otherless I would never have been able to be in the position I’m in today, but I probably have a different kind of ambition than his, for example,” he insisted.” I’m super satisfied with the career I’m having. Not today, I was years ago, but I’m not taking steps back on motivation for that. I don’t get frustrated if I lose a tournament, I try to approach the issue in a different way,” the world number three added. In this sense, he acknowledges that some of his numbers, such as the 13 Roland Garros titles, “are crazy.” “I would never have dreamed of these numbers, but at the same time, I’ve never had much time to think about them,” he said. Nadal recalls that when American Pete Sampras won his fourteenth Grand Slam, many people thought it would be “almost impossible” to overcome that barrier for many years to come. “But in a relatively short period of time, there are three players who already have more than 14 and at the same time,” he warned.” That puts into perspective what we did (Roger Federer, Djokovic and him) in the last 15-20 years, it’s kind of hard to match, but everyone thought the same about Pete and we improved it, and now probably someone will come in the future who will do better than us, even if it’s not an easy thing,” he said. On his rivalry with Federer and Djokovic, the tennis player did not hide that “when you have great rivals in front of you it helps to have a clear form of what you must do to be better and better.” “My approach is that I always wanted to be a better tennis player because I understand the sport this way and going to a workout every day with the aim of improving something, with the aim of being better,” he stressed. Not because I need to be better for having Roger or Novak in front of me. I want to think I want to do it because that’s how I understand the sport, although, of course, having these kind of players in front of you helps you give you a clear idea of the things you need to do better,” said the 20 grand slam winner.

Original source in Spanish