Novak Djokovic reveals how he used to compare himself to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal after lifting 23rd Grand Slam titles at French Open

Djokovic then revealed how he and his team used to spend hours on analyzing only Nadal and Federer's matches.

Novak Djokovic reveals how he used to compare himself to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal after lifting 23rd Grand Slam titles at French Open

Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer (Images via Twitter)

Novak Djokovic, who clinched his third Roland Garros title on Sunday (June 11) on Court Philippe-Chatrier, said how he used to compare himself to other legends of the sport Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Djokovic defeated Norway’s Casper Ruud in straight sets 7-6(7-1), 6-3, 7-5 to lift his record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam title which also made him the only men’s player to lift at least three of those four Majors titles.

After the match, Djokovic praised Nadal and Federer for pushing him to reach the career ladder. The 36-year-old contributed his grand success to the other two because of that intense rivalry.

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“The truth is that I have always compared myself to these guys, because those two are the two greatest rivals I ever had in my career,” he was quoted as saying by Roland Garros. “I have said it before many times that they have actually defined me as a player, and all the success that I have, they have contributed to it, in a way, because of the rivalries and the match-ups that we had.“

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Djokovic then revealed how he and his team used to spend hours analyzing only Nadal and Federer’s matches since his early days as a professional tennis player. “Countless hours of thinking and analysing and what it takes to win against them on the biggest stage, for me and for my team, it was just those two guys were occupying my mind for the last 15 years quite a lot,” he added.

Related: Alexander Zverev won’t bet money on Casper Ruud’s French Open chances against Novak Djokovic in the final

Novak Djokovic’s 2023 French Open campaign

Novak Djokovic's 2023 French Open campaign
Novak Djokovic (Image via Twitter)

Djokovic started his French Open campaign with a straight-sets win over Aleksander Kovacevic. He would then defeat the likes of Marton Fucsovics, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, and Juan Pablo Varillas in the next three rounds.

He faced Karen Khachanov in the quarterfinal and after losing the first set, he made a terrific comeback to defeat the Russian. The next opponent for him was the former World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz who was eyeing his second Grand Slam at the tournament.

The first two sets was won by each and but after the second set, the Spaniard started having cramps which in turn saw him losing the last two sets and Djokovic, without much hassle made it to his 34th Grand Slam final. And finally, he defeated Casper Ruud in the final and lifted his 23rd Grand Slam trophy.

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