Novak Djokovic admitted that it was impossible to form a friendship with Rafael Nadal given the pair’s long-standing rivalry on the tennis court. The two icons are among the greatest to have ever graced the sport with 46 Grand Slams won between them.
The Serbian ace – who is competing in the Shanghai Masters semi-final today against Valentin Vacherot – made the admission following the Spaniard’s emotional retirement last November after his nation were eliminated from the Davis Cup at the hands of Netherlands.
Explaining to Corriere Della Sera why it was “impossible” for the them to be pals, Djokovic said last year: “Nadal is only a year older than me, we are both Geminis, at first we even went to dinner together, twice. But even with him, friendship is impossible.
“I have always respected and greatly admired him. Thanks to him and Federer, I grew up and became who I am. This will unite us forever; therefore I feel gratitude towards them. Nadal is a part of my life, in the last fifteen years I’ve seen more of him than my mum!
“We have never been friends. Between rivals, it is not possible, but we have never been enemies. I’ve always had respect for Federer, he was one of the greatest of all time. He had an extraordinary impact, but I’ve never been close to him.”
The absence of a close relationship between the pair did not stop them from continually paying tribute to one another with Djokovic sharing his admiration for Nadal’s perseverance throughout his career, admitting it’s inspired him during his own journey in tennis.
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He added: “So we go back a very, very long time. There’s a lot of things that inspire me in his career. Definitely the tenacity, dedication, fighting spirit. This kind of champions mentality of never giving up and always, in the face of adversity, finding a way to win, finding a way to come back. That’s a kind of a mentality that he possesses, that I find really inspiring.”
Nadal and Djokovic have played each other a whopping 60 times, spanning 18 years, with the latter narrowly leading their battles 31–29 overall. Their last meeting came at the Paris 2024 Olympics last summer and the Spaniard named the Serb as the player in his career who caused him the most issues on a hard court.
Speaking to The Athletic, he said: “I needed my body and my physical performance to the highest level to compete against Novak on a hard court/ Roger was able to cut the points very fast with his serve, but Novak and me, our games are closer.
“He was better than me on hard without a doubt, but until 2013, 2014, I was able to compete against him the proper way. Then later, when you have a lot of issues in the body, you lose a little bit of confidence in the movement. You start avoiding things that you feel you can’t do like before, because you feel that if you do this kind of thing, you can be injured.
“The mental part of that had a huge impact against Novak. I needed this extra energy in terms of movement, in terms of bringing my game and my body to the limit. And I was not able to produce that anymore.”
