“It hurt my heart,” Tennis Legend on Novak Djokovic’s French Open loss

Legendary German tennis player Boris Becker has admitted of being hurt when Novak Djokovic lost his French Open 2020 final against Rafael Nadal.

Becker has had one of the most successful stints ever as a player-coach duo, pairing with Djokovic to together win six Grand Slam titles and 14 Masters 1000 titles (including a French Open – Boris himself never won this during his career!). He had coached Djokovic during the years 2014 to 2016; this trophy haul is even more remarkable because of this relatively short period of time.

However, the two have remained friends even after 2016, and Boris was there to congratulate Novak on winning the hard-fought 2019 Wimbledon title against Roger Federer. He wished to see Novak win the French Open this time around, but Nadal had other plans. The highly-anticipated affair ended up being fairly one-sided, with Nadal winning in straight sets and even securing a first-set bagel.

The loss hurt my heart: Becker on Novak’s RG loss

In an interview with the German daily, Allgemeine Zeitung, Becker voiced his emotions about the match.

“It hurt my heart when Rafa Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic. When Novak and I worked together, it was a very remarkable time for both. We were brothers at heart,” he said.

In other topics, Becker also spoke of the up and coming German tennis talent, spearheaded by US Open finalist Alexander Zverev. He believes that they have tons of potential, and should be taken notice of.

“We can be happy that we have Alexander Zverev and co., a generation is growing there,” he remarked. “We also have to be patient a bit. We’re doing pretty well there, although more would be better,” he concluded.

Also Read: That’s my professional goal and I’m going to work on it: Novak Djokovic