Lionel Messi Reveals Admiration for Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic for their ‘Fantastic’ Impact on the Game

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic are regarded as some of the greatest players to ever grace the tennis court. Despite Nadal and Federer retiring, their legacy still lives on and they have become role models to younger generations of players. World Cup winner Lionel Messi has recently revealed the Big 3 stars made a fantastic impact in sports.

No other player has reached the record that Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic have made in Grand Slam tournaments. The three stars won 66 major titles combined, with each of them winning at least 20 Grand Slams. Also, each of the Big 3 won at least 90 tour-level titles on the court, with only Jimmy Connors winning more titles than them.

The only player currently still competing on tour among the group is Djokovic, who has proven that he can still win titles and beat youngsters. This season, he claimed his 100th tour-level title after beating Hubert Hurkacz in the final of the Geneva Open, a few weeks after splitting with his former coach Andy Murray.

However, Messi has always shown his respect to Big 3 in several ways. In 2022, when Federer announced his retirement from tennis, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner paid tribute to the Swiss legend on Instagram. Earlier this year, Messi and his family attended the Miami Open, watching Djokovic beat Grigor Dimitrov in the semi-finals.

After the match, Djokovic and Messi shared a warm embrace and exchanged signed shirts in the locker room. During an interview with Tom Llamas on NBC Nightly News, Messi revealed that he admires Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic before going on to praise their competitive spirit on tour:

I greatly admire tennis players like Federer, Rafa, Djokovic. I think the three of them made the competition much bigger than it was. And competing for so long to be the best and being so close to each other, it made everything much more fantastic.

The Big 3 era has come to a close, and this has given rise to the dominance of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner on tour. The two players this season have won a combined twelve titles, including all four Grand Slams.

For the past two seasons, they have both been the best players on tour, winning the major titles. Even though Djokovic has shown excellent competitive spirit on the court, he has failed to win any Grand Slam since 2023.

Former ATP player believes Novak Djokovic will not compete at the ATP Finals in Turin

Novak Djokovic has qualified for the ATP Finals in Turin and he’s currently third on the Live Race rankings, just after Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. However, the biggest question has been whether he will compete at the season-ending tournament in November. He pulled out of the tournament last year despite qualifying.

He’s not competing in the ongoing Rolex Paris Masters as he withdrew from the tournament after the Six Kings Slam exhibition tournament. Former ATP player John Isner revealed during an episode of the Nothing Major podcast that he doesn’t think that Djokovic will compete at this year’s ATP Finals:

I don’t think so. And I hope I’m wrong. I think everyone would love to see him in Turin. The fact that he’s already qualified playing the schedule that he’s played this year is just completely absurd. At 38 years old, it needs mentioning again. But I don’t think he’s playing. He didn’t play last year. Pulled out of Paris. I think he’s just gearing up for 2026.

Djokovic’s last tour-level match was at the Shanghai Masters earlier this month. He struggled under the humid conditions of the tournament and did well to reach the semi-finals before losing to eventual champion Valentin Vacherot in straight sets.

Also Read: Alexander Zverev Believes he Would have Beaten Jannik Sinner at the Vienna Open final

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