Rafael Nadal hails next generation of stars, praises Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev

Spanish superstar Rafael Nadal says that tennis is going through a transition, with the younger generation being more competitive and ready for a fight. The Spaniard along with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic have shown a bit of fatigue in recent years with say that age might be catching up with them.

The 12-time Grand Slam winner, while not going into the topic of age, did reveal that he is impressed by the young talent. He added that it is not often that four players come along in the same generation and compete for titles.

"I don't know what will happen, I can't predict the future. Murray had an amazing final part of the season but I suppose that players who didn't win a Slam so far, it means the younger players, want to do. It's an Era of transition where two good generations combine together. Mine won a lot, four players of almost the same age did so many great things. Now it comes a high level new generation every year will be even more competitive and ready to fight for important things", Nadal said, as quoted by Tennis World.

Nadal, who reached world number one position in 2001 at the age of 15, believes that Nick Kyrgios has an unbelievable potential.

"When I speak about young players, I intend guys who are 19-20 years old. In this new generation you will need to see how Kokkinakis wilal evolve, he suffered injury and we don't know how he will comeback, but he has the potential to be at the top. Kyrgios is already at the top, a player who has unbelievable potential. He has focus on himself, can become world number one and win a Grand Slam. To me the one that has most chances is Zverev, a complete player in every aspect of the game. I think he will be one of the strongest players", the former world number one added.

Nadal, who is currently recovering from injury, is next expected to be seen in action at the Abu Dhabi exhibition which starts later this month.