Article by Tudor Belivacă – Published on Wednesday, 05 November 2025, 22:33 / Updated on Wednesday, 05 November 2025 22:33
Rafael Nadal spoke again about the greatest rivalry in tennis history. In an interview with Spanish publication As, the legendary Spaniard compared the duels he had during his career against Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, emphasizing how different they are in terms of game and personality.
The Spaniard has played no less than 60 matches against Novak Djokovic, and the Serbian leads in head-to-head matches 31 to 29. Against the experienced Swiss, Nadal has a better record, with 24 wins in 40 duels, but, as he says, the differences between them were enormous, and each match carried a special weight.
Rafael Nadal on rivals Djokovic and Federer: “They are completely different”
“They are completely different. Novak is more direct and predictable, but it was more difficult for me to develop a strategy against him. To beat him, I had to play extraordinary tennis and pay attention to the smallest details. The matches with Roger were more interesting for the public, for him I had a very clear plan”, said Rafael Nadal, according to those from sportal.blic.rs.
Nadal also recalled one of his most difficult seasons, the one in 2011, when he was defeated in almost all major tournaments by the Serbian Novak Djokovic, who was in the prime of his career.
“I lost a lot of finals to him in 2011: Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Rome, Wimbledon and the US Open, as well as the Australian Open the following season. When a rivalry repeats itself so often, it's very difficult to change the dynamic. It's mentally exhausting, but that's the beauty of sport. Sometimes you have to accept that the opponent was better,” added Rafael Nadal, according to the quoted source.
Rafael Nadal's career has long been etched in history: 22 Grand Slam tournaments, a record 14 titles on clay in Paris and the Olympic gold medal in Beijing in 2008, when he defeated Fernando Gonzalez in the final.
