Rafael Nadal says he is among the 'two best players' in the world

Nadal refuses to call himself the best tennis player in history.

Rafael Nadal is still on a high after winning his 13th French Open title last Sunday. He now stands level with Roger Federer with the most number of Grand Slam titles. They each hold 20 major trophies, and Nadal says that he can't say if he is the best player in history. Instead, he can only say that he is among the two best players in the world at the moment.

In an exclusive interview with Marca, Nadal said, "from here we will see what happens with Novak, we will see what happens to Federer when he returns to the sport. Luckily, I think we will have time to analyse all the data when our careers finish."

He explained that declaring who is the best of all time is "debatable" and that experts need to analyse all the pertinent data in order to truly determine who is the best.

Nevertheless, the "King of Clay" knows that he achieved an amazing feat by winning the French Open an unprecedented number of times. "At the sporting level, something important was achieved because one of the most important tournaments in the world has been won 13 times," he said.

Despite the amazing milestone, Nadal had to acknowledge that he has been affected by the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic. He says that he is unable to celebrate properly, and he feels sad about the situation as a whole. "We're in a sad moment in which you can't share things with the people you love. This is a more unpleasant situation than what we are used to, but you can't isolate yourself from what is happening in the wider world," he said. "I know that in Spain we're in a complicated situation. I feel bad for what is happening because it's unheard of in our lifetime," he added.

The entire sporting community has made extensive efforts to stage competitions despite the restrictions. However, the raging pandemic has presented challenges that have become harder and harder to overcome. Numerous athletes in tennis and other sports have contracted COVID-19 and it remains to be seen if the industry will be able to sustain itself.