The Spaniard is just pleased that he has given himself another chance to win more majors.

Rafael Nadal is into his 27th career major final and on Sunday in New York he will bid to move just one shy of Roger Federer on the all-time Grand Slam titles list with 19. But the Spaniard knows he has a tough task ahead of him as he prepares to face Russia’s Daniil Medvedev for the second time this summer. Nadal dropped just three games against Medvedev in the Montreal final on a windy day, but he knows he’ll have to be ready to face the rising Russian.

“I need to be playing at my best,” Nadal said. “I think at the end of the match I increased my level again today. I need to hold this level if I want to have chances on Sunday. If not, is so difficult. He is very, very solid.”

One thing is certain: Nadal will not be worried about chasing Roger Federer on the all-time major titles list. If it happens, great. If not, that’s the sport.

“When I arrived here, my goal was to produce a chance to compete for the big thing again,” Nadal said. “Here I am.?” Nadal, has reached three Grand Slam finals this year and made it to at least the last four of every major. As long as he keeps giving himself chances to win titles, he’ll be fine.

“I give myself another chance, as I did in Wimbledon, as I did in Australia, as I did in Roland Garros,” Nadal said. “That's the personal satisfaction. That's the personal happiness. You win, you lose. That's part of all the sport. Of course, I would love to be the one who achieve more Grand Slams, but I still sleep very well without being the one who have more Grand Slams.”

Nadal will also bid to tie John McEnroe for fourth on the all-time US Open Open era title list with four. If he gets it, he’ll be one behind the Open Era record of five, which is shared by Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors.

Not bad for a clay specialist, no?

“I am happy about my career,” Nadal said. “I am very happy about what I'm doing. I'm going to keep working hard to try to produce chances. Sunday is one. It's just one more chance, that's all. My opponents going to keep playing. If I able to win on Sunday, okay, will be amazing. If I lose, I hope to keep having chances in the future to add things.

“But as I always say to you, and is true: I would love to be the one to have more [major titles than any other player], yes, but you cannot be all day frustrated or all day thinking about what your neighbor has better than you. You have to be happy with yourself. You have to do your way. If you are the one to achieve more, fantastic. If not, at least I give my best during all my career. That's all.”

The Spaniard was given high praise from a pair of peers on Wednesday in New York

Rafael Nadal: king of clay, 18-time major champion and… best fighter ever?

That’s what Matteo Berrettini and Diego Schwartzman are saying after Day 10 at the US Open. The Italian, who will face Nadal in Friday’s semifinals in New York, had big praise for Nadal when he was asked by a reporter after his five-set victory over Gael Monfils on Wednesday in New York.

“I think he's the greatest fighter ever in this sport,” Berrettini said. “It's unbelievable he's doing. I admire him, like, the way he's on the court, you know. Like his attitude is something that it's — I think it's close to the perfection. He's always, like, 5-0, 40-Love down, he's always there. It's something that's not that easy to do. So bravo.”

On Wednesday Nadal, true to form, fought through cramping to get past Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman in straight sets to book his eighth semifinal at the US Open. Schwartzman says that he’s never seen anything like the Spaniard. He was asked if he agreed with Berrettini—is Nadal the best fighter in history?

“[He is] like a lion in the middle, you know, in the jungle,” Schwartzman said. “He's a fighter. He knows how to play the important moments every single time. I played eight times, and every important moment he played better than me.”

Nadal was asked to respond, and he told reporters that there’s nothing special about what he does. There are many good fighters out there, Nadal told them.

“I don't like to talk much about myself, because it's not a beautiful thing,” Nadal said. “No, I think I had stable character during all my life, all my career. That helps to be normally in stable — I mean, mentally focused, mentally relaxed and mentally always ready to respect every opponent, to play every point, to play every game, to play every set and every match until the end, no?

“So that's one of the keys of the success. But honestly, is not everything. I think my success is not only because of the spirit of fight. There is lot of things after this. But of course I have the stories say that I have been, yeah, a good fighter on court with good character, positive character, and I am not the only one. There is a lot of ones that fight a lot.”