{"id":192871,"date":"2022-01-30T23:48:19","date_gmt":"2022-01-31T00:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=192871"},"modified":"2022-01-31T07:57:48","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T07:57:48","slug":"nadals-sharp-response-to-claiming-goat-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=192871","title":{"rendered":"Nadal's sharp response to claiming GOAT status"},"content":{"rendered":"

With his epic five set win<\/a> at the Australian Open<\/a>, Rafael Nadal<\/a> claimed an elusive 21st Grand Slam title, etching himself into the history books as the most successful male tennis player ever.<\/p>\n

Separating himself from 'big three' rivals Roger Federer<\/a> and Novak Djokovic<\/a>, Nadal can now happily bask in the accolades and self-satisfaction of being the game's greatest by the numbers.<\/p>\n

However, the 35-year-old is uninterested in the GOAT tag.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Federer, Djokovic congratulate record-breaking Nadal<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Tiley declares AO 'best sporting event' in tennis history<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

AS IT HAPPENED:<\/strong> Nadal trumps Medvedev in epic AO final<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Speaking in his post-match press conference – held in the early hours this morning – Nadal said winning his second Australian Open title meant more to him than being considered the greatest of all time.<\/p>\n

"I don't care much if I am the one or not the one or the best of the history, not the best of the history," he said.<\/p>\n

"Honestly today I don't care much.<\/p>\n

"For me, it's about enjoying nights like today. That means everything for me, no? Means even more to achieve the second Australian Open more than any other thing.<\/p>\n

"Of course, for me it's amazing to achieve another grand slam at this moment of my career. It means a lot to me. Of course, I know it's a special number, 21.<\/p>\n

"I mean, I know how it means, no? Is of big significance this title, no?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"But from my point of view… I believe today is an unforgettable day. I never will say I deserve, because I think a lot of people fight and a lot of people deserve [it].<\/p>\n

"But I really believe that I hold a very positive spirit. For the last six months, I really fighted [sic] a lot to try to be back on court.<\/p>\n

"I was repeating to myself during the whole match, I lost a lot of times here having chances, sometimes I was a little bit unlucky. I just wanted to keep believing till the end, no?<\/p>\n

"Tonight was for me 2012, 2017, 2014 with the injury, too, I have been in that position couple of times in my career here in Australia.<\/p>\n

"Tonight have been unforgettable. I feel very lucky."<\/p>\n

After winning his first Australian Open championship in 2009 against Djokovic, Nadal lost his next four finals at Rod Laver Arena, battling debilitating injuries in between.<\/p>\n

The Spaniard now boasts 13 French Open titles, four US Open titles and two titles at both Wimbledon and the Australian Open throughout a 21 year career, making him the fourth man in history to win all four majors on multiple occasions.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With his epic five set win at the Australian Open, Rafael Nadal claimed an elusive 21st Grand Slam title, etching himself into the history books […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192871"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=192871"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192873,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192871\/revisions\/192873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=192871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=192871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=192871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}