'You'll go insane' Nadal reveals his stand on matching Federer's record of 20 Grand Slam titles
Nadal insists that obsessing over Federer's record will not give him any happiness but will only work towards making him insane.
Rafael Nadal has revealed that he is not obsessed with matching Roger Federer's record of 20 Grand Slams and that he does his best to win as many tournaments without looking at any milestone out there. The Spaniard had to retire from the quarter-final stage of the Australian Open with a thigh injury, as he saw Federer lift his 20th Grand Slam title in Melbourne.
With the win, Federer extended his lead over Nadal to four Grand Slams, with the Spaniard looking to close the gap in the French Open in May, a title he has won ten times in his illustrious career. The 31-year-old is now aiming to make a comeback in Acapulco, starting on 26 February, in a bid to get back into full fitness before the American hard court season in Indian Wells and Miami.
Both Federer and Nadal came back from a tumultuous 2016 after missing major parts of the season through injury. In 2017, they scripted a memorable comeback as the duo claimed two Slams each to end the year as the two top-ranked players of the season.
Nadal won the French Open and the US Open, while the Swiss ace took his tally to 19 with the Australian Open and Wimbledon. The duo picked up a total of 13 titles between them and rolled back the years as the new generation failed to have an impact.
However, he is not willing to go over the top with his ambitions after a successful campaign last year and wants to rein in the expectations and focus on the next job at hand. He insists that obsessing over Federer's record will not give him any happiness but will only work towards making him insane.
"It's great to be ambitious, but not to excess," Nadal said, as quoted by the Express. "You'll go insane if you obsess on wanting more and more and more... the most important thing is to be happy with yourself.
"Of course, I do everything possible to win the maximum number of tournaments, but I'm not going to spend all my life thinking, 'Federer has won more than me.' I just concentrate on what I can control and focus on that."
