Roger Federer slams Rafael Nadal claim by referring to Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray
ROGER FEDERER has slammed people who once claimed both himself and Rafael Nadal had weakened the current generation of players.
Federer and Nadal sit atop of the ATP Tour rankings despite Novak Djokovic scooping the US Open title earlier this month.
The big three continue to dominate the major tournaments with the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open titles being shared out.
And Roger Federer has slammed previous claims that he and Nadal had weakened the current generation, pointing to Djokovic and Andy Murray as examples of how people have risen to the challenge.
“I think it's not fair to say that our generation is stronger,” he said.
“For many years many people said it's weaker just because there was only me and then there was only Rafael Nadal and me.
“And now there are people talking about (us) four. Now it's the best ever. This is where I disagree.
“It doesn't happen so quickly. I remember when Pete and Andre and Becker and Edberg and McEnroe and all those guys were still around, and more even.
“I think it was very good already. Before that generation was also very strong.
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“It's just a matter that Rafa and myself, we took a lot of the Grand Slams and we didn't allow anybody else to shine really.
“For that reason, all the other players didn't get the respect they deserve.“
Federer has also revealed what his finest achievement of his career to date is.
“I said it a million times, but it's so true. Having won Wimbledon and become world No 1, that's for me the pinnacle when it all happened,” Federer said.
“World No 1 makes the entire year consistency, being there, winning tournaments, day in, day out on the ATP Tour, the grind.
“That, for me, stands out besides winning Wimbledon, because that's where my heroes won and where I wanted to win as a player.”
Nadal is currently world No 1 with 8760 points.
Federer then trails on 69000 with Novak Djokovic closing in on 6445.