RAFAEL NADAL may have become the seventh man to complete a career grand slam, but he still believes Roger Federer is the best player in the modern game.

Speaking in the aftermath of his victory at the US Open on Monday, when the 24-year-old Nadal became the youngest player in the modern game to complete the set of all four majors, Nadal said his maiden victory at Flushing Meadows was merely “a step forward”.

“I’m not the best sportsman,” Nadal admitted. “It’s quite obvious that I’m not.” But: ”As a tennis player I have taken a step forward.

Insisting that he maintained “the hunger for victory and the hope to keep winning”, Nadal spoke of his US Open victory as a “dream”.

“[The US Open] has been in past the one that has been hardest for me. First of all there was my knees [which were injured in 2007, then] I was very tired after the Olympics, and last year I pulled an abdominal muscle.”

He insisted, however, that his longtime rival, Roger Federer, is the best player of the modern day.

Aside from his career grand slam, Nadal has also become the first man to win the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open titles in the same year since 1969.