“There is nothing to discuss in that,” Rafael Nadal calls Novak Djokovic the ‘BEST’ finding debates around it of no use owing to Nole’s superior numbers
In a recent interview, Rafael Nadal picks his longtime rival Novak Djokovic as the best ever after the Serbian's 24th Grand Slam victory.
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Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. (credits: ESPN, mainichi.jp)
After two decades of intensive battles and competition, the debate regarding the best tennis player has been settled according to Rafael Nadal. Nadal along with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic had gifted the tennis world with many emphatic moments on the court across these two decades and as they are catching up with age and progressing to the end of their careers, a question is left unanswered according to many fanatics.
But after Novak’s impressive 24th Grand Slam win at the US Open last week, the entire world has stood up to congratulate the Serbian on his newly achieved record. Nadal and Federer are very likely to finish off their careers with lesser Slam wins i.e. 22 and 20, which probably ends the Big-3 debate that has stood out there for so many years. But Nadal spoke about this during his interview with AS where he stated that stats and records do not amaze him at all finally revealing that he considers Novak as the best ever.
Nadal said, “I believe that numbers are numbers & statistics are statistics. In that sense, I think he has better numbers than mine & that is indisputable. I don’t drop any rings nor do I have an ego big enough to try to disguise a reality. This is the truth.“
He further said,“The rest are tastes, inspiration, and sensations that one or the other may transmit to you, that you may like one or the other more. I think that with respect to titles, Djokovic is the best in history & there is nothing to discuss in that.”
Novak Djokovic vs Rafael Nadal over the years:
Both Nadal and Novak have met each other on many occasions leaving the entire tennis world witness to several thrilling battles over the years. The longtime rivals have faced each other on 59 occasions which Novak leads by 30-29 in head to heads. In the finals, they have met on 28 occasions with Novak yet again triumphing 15 times compared to 13 wins for Nadal in the finals.
Their first meeting came way back in the year 2006 at Nadal’s favorite competition i.e. the Roland Garros in the quarter-finals round. Djokovic had to retire midway through the match and their last meeting also coincidentally came at the same stage of the 2022 Roland Garros which Nadal won in a four-set thriller. Nadal got the better of Djokovic in terms of Grand Slam encounters and also stripped the Serbian of five Slams in the finals.
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Soumyadeep Mondal
(882 Articles Published)