Rafael Nadal has given an insight into his relationship with his two biggest rivals, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Rafael Nadal opened up on his relationship with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic after they spent almost two decades locked in a heated rivalry. The Big Three faced off on the sport’s grandest stages with the biggest titles on the line. Between them, they have won 66 Grand Slam titles.
The Spaniard officially retired at last year’s Davis Cup, leaving Djokovic as the last active player of the Big Three. Four months after ending his career, Nadal gave a rare insight into how he truly feels about his greatest rivals and explained what he wanted the next generation of tennis players to learn from their years of competition.
During their era of dominance, Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic took tennis to new heights. Not only did they break records and rewrite history, but their rivalries brought new eyes to the game and will go down as three of the greatest rivalries in all of sports.
By the time he retired in November, Nadal had faced Djokovic a staggering 60 times and played 40 matches against Federer. After years of intense battles, each of them would be forgiven if they had a frosty relationship.
But the 14-time French Open champion has now explained how the three always had “respect” for one another and saw each other as humans away from the court, rather than “hating” each other.
