For Nadal, Djokovic is a tougher opponent than Federer: Toni Nadal


For Nadal, Djokovic is a tougher opponent than Federer: Toni Nadal

Nadal Djokovic

On Tuesday, Rafael Nadal’s uncle and former coach Toni Nadal has said that Roger Federer is the best tennis player of the current generation but World number one Novak Djokovic remains the most difficult opponent for Nadal. Since Roland Garros 2014, Rafael Nadal has not defeated his enemy Novak Djokovic in a Grand Slam match. Moreover, the Spaniard has not been able to do better performance against Djokovic. He is certainly looking for a solution for his dismal record against the Djokovic.

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“For me, he (Federer) is a wonderful player. I like to watch Roger Federer a lot. If I wasn’t the uncle nor the coach of Rafael, I would want Federer to win all the matches. But at the end, I like how he plays, because he’s very elegant but he’s very effective too”, Toni said in a statement.

“I know Federer is the best ever with I don’t know who; maybe Rod Laver or maybe Rafael, he’s not too far (behind). But at the moment Federer is the best”, he added.

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Djokovic has a slight edge over Nadal as he has won 29 of their 55 encounters so far. Djokovic played greatly in this season before the novel coronavirus pandemic brought the tennis circuit to a halt in early March. He lifted the ATP Cup and won his eighth Australian Open title.

“For us it was always more difficult to play against Djokovic, Because it’s not about who of them is better. For us, when we play against Federer, we have a way to beat him. In my mind, before going on court, I know what we have to do. When we play against Djokovic, many times we didn’t know exactly what we had to do. This is more difficult, for me. I prefer to play against Federer”, toni said in a statement.

After uncle Toni stepped down as his long-time coach at the end of the 2017 season, Nadal currently do training under the former world number one and fellow Mallorcan Carlos Moya.

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