"Mentally, what a player! Surely the best I've seen" - Pete Sampras praises Nadal

Pete Sampras praised Rafael Nadal for being mentally the strong player ever which is usually praise reserved for Novak Djokovic.

Pete Sampras is one of the best players in history as nobody had more grand slams than him before the big three came around. The American has praised all of them over time but recently came out to call Nadal mentally the strongest player of all time.

It's an interesting comment because usually players and analysts laud Djokovic for his mental fortitude. The Serbian proved it many times which is why most consider him the strongest player in that regard. Djokovic also grew up idolizing Sampras but his idol seems to disagree with the widespread opinion on him:

"Everything that (Nadal) does is exceptional. Roger (Federer) and I had a period of dominance on grass, but winning the same big 14 times is incredible. And mentally, what a player! Surely the best I've seen."

He did add praise to Djokovic as well saying:

"Novak has done incredible things in the last ten years, he has good numbers against most players, he is the one with the record of being number 1. He has won everywhere. He has all the records except for the Grand Slam."