Toni Nadal Pins the Blame on Younger Generation for Federer, Nadal’s Continued Domination

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have dominated the game of Tennis thoroughly since their return in 2017. From 2005-2015, their domination was unprecedented, but their injuries prevented them from continuing their top form. It was only in 2017 that they returned to their respective forms, winning two grand slams each in 2017 and Federer already winning the Australian Open in 2018. Nadal hasn’t been far behind this year, thoroughly dominating the clay court season, looking definite to win the French Open again this year.

While some label this domination a golden period of Tennis, some go after the younger generations for their inability to step up to the moment. Youngsters like Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem and others have shown good form but haven’t been able to live up to the pressure of performing in the grand slams.

Speaking on the same, Toni Nadal said that it was only because of the younger generation that the domination of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal has continued this far.

In the past, for many years every generation was breaking through and now it’s not like this,‘ Toni told Libertad Digital.

‘The new (generation) didn’t replace the previous. When we came to the professional tour, the best were (Andy) Roddick, (Lleyton) Hewitt, (David) Nalbandian, (Guillermo) Coria, (Roger) Federer, they were all 21 years old.

(Juan Carlos) Ferrero 23, (Marat) Safin 24, (Carlos) Moya 27 and (Andre) Agassi was older. They were dominating tennis as youngsters and now older players dominate, not the younger ones.’ He also added, ‘The best in the world are Federer 36, Nadal 31, (Novak) Djokovic and (Andy) Murray 30.

I believe that it’a caused by youth who have grown up in a different way. They mature later. We live in a technological world where it seems that we find solutions for the solution with new methods. There are statistic studies, but the reality is that above all, kids are worse than before.’