‘Clever’ Roger Federer has cunning plan to keep Rafael Nadal at arm’s length, claims Greg Rusedski :-: Metro
METRO
Greg Rusedski believes Roger Federer is planning on being remembered as the greatest player of all time and that he won’t potentially damage his legacy by pushing for the world No. 1 spot in 2017.
Nadal opens world No. 1 door to Federer with late schedule change
The former British No. 1 is convinced the Swiss is always ‘thinking of the bigger picture’ and that he won’t allow Rafael Nadal the chance to overtake him in the all-time Grand Slam leaderboard.
Federer admitted he might skip both Basel and the Paris Masters after beating the Spaniard in the final of the Shanghai Masters, with Nadal since pulling out of Basel himself.
Most Grand Slam titles
19 – Federer
16 – Nadal
14 – Sampras
12 – Djokovic
12 – Emerson
While the world No. 2 still has a chance of ending the year as the top-ranked player, Rusedski would not be surprised if Federer decided to give Basel or Paris a miss as it may effect his long-term chances of keeping ahead of Nadal.
And he expects that ‘clever’ Federer is hatching a plan to secure his legacy as the finest player ever seen.
‘Roger is very clever,’ Rusedski told Sky Sports.
‘Even if he doesn’t play [at Basel and Paris] and get to world No. 1 but he wins more Masters series, they have two Slams apiece and then wins in London he will have actually won more of the bigger titles.
‘Because that [the World Tour Finals] is probably the fifth major if you are looking outside the majors.
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‘Roger is thinking of the bigger picture all the time. Really the only player to threaten him as the greatest player of all time is Rafa. He has equalled [beaten] Sampras with 16 majors – Roger has 19.
‘There is a five-year difference between the pair. Rafa, apart from the little strapping on his knees in the final, has looked very healthy. He [Federer] is going to try and keep Rafa away from having more majors than him.’
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