NBA legend Steve Nash - "I have never seen a volley error from Nadal"
Steve Nash not only praised his Canadian compatriot Bianca Andreescu extensively in the latest issue of "Tennis United" - he also contributed to the discussion about the best player of all time.
by tennisnet.com
last edit:
May 27, 2020, 12:11 pm
Steve Nash is a man with many sporting interests. Sure, the Canadian’s expertise is first and foremost in the field of basketball - Nash has been voted the NBA’s most valuable player twice, even though it was never enough to win the championship title. But Nash also copes well with football, possibly the influence of his buddy Dirk Nowitzki is noticeable here.
With his guest appearance alongside ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky in the latest issue of "Tennis United", he demonstrated that Steve Nash can also count himself among the experts when it comes to tennis. First in the assessment of the performance of his compatriot Bianca Andreescu , but then also in the question of who is the greatest tennis player of all time.
Federer, Djokovic, Nadal on one level
"It's great to watch modern tennis with the Djoker , Roger and Rafa , how they are all so different and how they achieve their successes in different ways," said Nash. “But if you look at their individual accomplishments, you can find that each of the three arguments is the best ever. You could add Sampras and maybe John McEnroe with the great season. ”
"For me, they all have different and exciting attributes," continued Nash in conversation with moderator Vasek Pospisil. “Roger has started fascinatingly. He is a great athlete, but he also brings so much variability, wonderful basic strokes, he slices the backhand, but can also go hard over the ball, he finds angles, his forehand is obviously a master stroke. And then he also has the serve-and-volley game and the other variants. "
“On the other hand, when Rafa started I thought he was a beast from an athlete. From a mental point of view, he is one of the toughest athletes in sports. But over the years you realize that you have never seen a Nadal volley mistake. He is also an artist. And when you look at Djokovic, the way he moves, his flexibility, also his consistency. When he plays his best tennis, it is almost impossible to beat him. Djokovic forces his opponents to play so many extra balls, puts so much pressure that you have to play even closer to the lines. In his way, he's as good as anyone else I've ever seen. ”