In his first interview since announcing his retirement, Rafael Nadal has opened up about his relationships with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
The trio formed the Big Three in tennis, and their rivalry transcended tennis for more than two decades, but all good things must come to an end as Federer retired in September 2022, while Nadal will call it a day after this year’s Davis Cup Finals in November.
When asked about his relationships with his fellow greats during an interview with DAZN, Nadal said the fact that they realised there is more to life than tennis was key.
“With Roger I have a special relationship, but with Novak too I have a good relationship,” he said. “It’s the way you approach the sport because in the end, we understand, that’s all it is a match. In life, we have more important things outside of tennis.
Rafael Nadal makes candid confession about his relationship with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic
“At the end of the day, if you have a good relationship with your colleagues, those around you, and people in general, undoubtedly the experience will be happier. In the end, tennis is only a game; relationships go beyond that.”
He added, “That is the beautiful thing about sports. You always need to have a clear goal and determination to be better and better and better. Having big opponents in front gives you a clearer perspective on what things you need to keep doing.”
Nadal and Federer met 40 times in top-level tennis, with the former winning their head-to-head 24-16, but that pales into comparison to the Nadal-Djokovic H2H, as they played each other 60 times in official matches with the Serbian leading 31-29.
They could meet again this week, but it will be unofficially as they are competing in the Six Kings Slam exhibition event in Saudi Arabia.
Nadal says Djokovic and Federer have always pushed him to the next level.
“We have played against each other plenty of times; we don’t need to play again (laughs). Playing against Novak has always been a big challenge; he is a great rival. He is a player who has always pushed me to the highest level, taking me to the limit.
“I think we both have that same feeling; with Roger [Federer] too, we push ourselves to the next level because the opponent has always been very strong and we need to be improving all the time to be able to keep competing at the highest level.”
