For years there have been various discussions surrounding who should be named as the greatest of all time (GOAT) in tennis but Rafael Nadal’s mind is already made up.
The former world No.1 has paid tribute to rival Novak Djokovic whom he has an extensive rivalry against. On the tour, the two have played against each other 59 times with the Serbian narrowly leading their head-to-head 30-29. Nine of those meetings were in a Grand Slam final.
During an interview with El Objetivo, Nadal says the numbers don’t lie when it comes to concluding that Djokovic is the best in men’s tennis. Djokovic currently holds a record 24 major titles (two more than Nadal), spent more than 400 weeks at the top of the world rankings and has earned more prize money than any other player in history ($181,599,018 as of this week).
However, Djokovic has been caught up in controversies during his career and some criticised his outbursts on the court at times. Something Nadal believes is a misunderstanding.
“The image he projects is worse than what he really is,” the Spaniard told El Objetivo.
“He’s a good person, with his mistakes… but he’s much better than he looks. To me when someone with so much success has to project…
“Novak breaks his racket but the next point he’s one hundred per cent, that’s why he’s the most successful player in the history of our sport. The numbers don’t lie, he’s the best in history.”
Nadal, who has won more ATP clay court titles than any other player in history, is part of the Big Three. A trio of players who have dominated men’s tennis in recent years. Djokovic and now-retired Roger Federer are the other members of the group.
“We have shared most of our career. I arrived very young and he [Federer] was in his prime,” Nadal commented.
“We have helped each other a lot, and we have taken a lot away from each other… Not only with Roger, but also with Novak. We knew we couldn’t fail. We had a clear path marked out to know how to improve.”
On Wednesday 37-year-old Nadal announced that he will not be making his return to competitive tennis at next week’s Qatar Open in Doha. He hasn’t played a match since Brisbane due to a hip injury. He now plans to return to action next month where he is scheduled to play an exhibition match against Carlos Alcaraz on March 3rd before heading to Indian Wells.
