"Winning this title three times in a row is not something unfeasible, because I did it. But it's almost impossible. And in my mind, it seemed very big," the 21-year-old Nadal said after defeating Roger Federer in Sunday's French Open final.

Nadal, who is only the second man in the Open era after Bjorn Borg to claim the rare treble, said that his own favoured status had been a heavy weight throughout the tournament.

"It's something which is quite difficult, three titles in a row,"

Nadal said. "You have this pressure, this dream about winning, so you have more pressure."

The second seeded Nadal added that Federer's efforts to capture the only grand slam title that has eluded him and achieve the historic feat of holding all for majors at once must have been a burden for the Swiss.

"I guess it also had an impact on him, because he had this dream of winning the four titles in the same year," Nadal said. "We all feel these different pressures for different kind of reasons."

"And it's true, a Grand Slam tournament is different, and the final is different from the finals of any other tournament."

Nadal says he feels as if he is playing the best tennis of his career, even better than last year when the Spaniard was at the height of a record-breaking 81-match win streak on clay.

"I am very happy about my clay season, about my performance this year, because I win a lot of matches, but I win a lot of matches playing well."

"Last year I won a lot of matches without playing very well."

The Spaniard said that he has high expectations for future seasons, including the possibility of claiming a major on another surface, as his play continues to improve.

"Winning in any grand slam always is very important for me, no? But the most important for me always is not winning the grand slam, the most important for me is feeling I am improving my tennis, feeling I am playing well."

"I know if I'm feeling that things, I'm going to have my chances for win more grand slams."

Jeremy Stahl in Paris