Surprises me that a champion like Novak Djokovic falls sometimes in negative gestures: Toni Nadal

Surprises me that a champion like Novak Djokovic falls sometimes in negative gestures: Toni Nadal

Toni Nadal Novak Djokovic 1

Toni Nadal, Novak Djokovic

Rafael Nadal won his 13th French Open title in straight sets 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 against the world no.1 Novak Djokovic in the finals. The scoreline was surprising as Novak could not hold a single game in the opening set.

After the match, Rafael Nadal’s uncle and former coach, Toni Nadal expressed surprise at the one sided outcome of the match. As the world no.1 and 2 faced off, fans expected the match to be a thrilling battle.

“He immediately fell into despair,” says Toni Nadal

Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic

Toni Nadal feels that the start of the match, where Nadal broke despite trailing 15-40 led Novak into “despair”. Toni feels Novak failed to set up points and played to Rafa’s backhands in hope to earn points.

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”Right from the start, from 40-15 in the first game, we saw an insurmountable Rafael, and I think Djokovic had the same feeling and immediately fell into despair. When he perceived that my nephew was unapproachable from the bottom, he wanted to break the rhythm with left-handers, the result of his nervousness rather than a good preparation of the point,” he said.

The Serb tried to play around tactics and play to the backhand side of Rafa. Toni also feels Novak lacked a positive body language, which made things worse. Replying to Goran Ivanisevic, Toni has shown discontent with Novak’s behaviour.

“It surprises me that a great champion like him falls ,, and more frequently lately, into such a negative gesture. I have always understood that taking care of body language has a double effect: towards oneself and towards the rival,” the 59-year-old said.

Toni Nadal has emphasized the vitality of on-court behaviour. He feels the attitude of the player can affect the outcome of the match drastically. Coming from the world no.1, such a negative attitude is surprising to witness.

Also Read: Patrick Mouratoglou claims to witness a ‘different’ Novak Djokovic during French Open 2020 finals