Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are separated by 50 points at the top of the ATP men's singles ranking. In this picture, Federer of Switzerland talks with Nadal of Spain during the award ceremony after the Men's singles final match on day eight of 2017 ATP Shanghai Rolex Masters at Qizhong Stadium in Shanghai, China, Oct. 15, 2017. Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash described Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer’s achievements in the game as “freakish” and was at a loss to explain how the duo has continued to dominate men’s tennis for over a decade.

Nadal is currently the world number one, having won 10 titles in the last 17 months which includes three Grand Slam titles. He is again in contention to finish as the year-end number one, but will have close competition from Federer.

The Swiss ace is just 50-points behind the Spaniard and had taken over the number one from Nadal earlier in the year. They have switched the top ranking between them six times since the start of the year.

Nadal and Federer have dominated men’s tennis in the last 17 months winning a combined 19 titles, which include three Grand Slams apiece. Alexander Zverev, who is ranked number three, is over 3000 points behind the leader.

The duo has a combined 37 major titles between them (20 for Federer and 17 for Nadal) with the next best being Novak Djokovic on 12. And Cash believes their – Nadal and Federer – achievements make the Serb look like a “failure."

"I don't understand how he [Nadal] does it, I really don't know,” Cash said, as quoted on Tennis World USA. “It's some form of obsession, there is no doubt about it, I don't know what drives him, but it has to be.”

"Federer as well ... Why would he be playing at the age of 36 other than to please your adoring fans, and because he likes playing and he likes to win titles?” he said.

“They set the benchmark so ridiculously high that somebody like Novak looks like a failure compared to them because he's lost motivation for a year, which is ridiculous," the former Wimbledon winner added.

Djokovic and Andy Murray are the two players who have challenged their supremacy in recent years and it looked like they had overtaken Federer and Nadal in the 2015 and 2016.

The Serb won 11 titles in 2015 which included three Grand Slams, six Masters Series titles and the ATP Finals. He was the world number one, but in 2016 Murray challenged Djokovic with nine titles of his own to become the number one for the first time in his career.

After dominating for two seasons, the two players struggled for form and fitness in 2017 when Nadal and Federer returned after spending a lengthy time out injured in 2016. The Swiss tennis legend and the Spaniard have since proved why they are considered among the greatest not only of the current era, but in the history of the sport.

"Novak had the best year [2015], possibly the best year tennis has ever seen. He played Nadal at his peak and Federer at his peak and he beat them. And these are two of the greatest guys we are talking about, so that took a lot out of him,” Cash said.

"The same with Andy Murray. Murray had a great year [2016] and then was exhausted the next year. That's normal,” he added. "What's not normal is that they [Federer and Nadal] go back year in, year out. It really is freakish and I can't quite find the answer to that, to exactly what it is."

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