Rafael Nadal: "My most dangerous rival, without a doubt, is Novak Djokovic"

bobeeto

Professional
I think nadal is very humble in general, and can give flowers to anyone. I really think he probably just wants to be good at tennis and knows he has played some legendary matches with the both of them.
 

junior74

Talk Tennis Guru
Nadal always tells the true
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Hitman

Bionic Poster
Well of course it is. Djokovic is the only one who has defeated Nadal at Roland Garros in the last 13 years, and did it multiple times, and Nadal has failed to do the same in AO, plus the 19-0 in sets on HC lost that alone makes it obvious who is his most dangerous rival.

But the opposite is true also, Nadal is Djokovic's most dangerous rival, because Nadal outside of Djokovic has the best big match mentality of any player on tour.

These two are still ahead of the curve.
 
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Deleted member 629564

Guest
Any other name would be simply laughable. “My biggest rival is Zverev” Yeah? Since when?
It can become very true in the next 7 months. Naderev finals in Melbourne and Paris are not so unlikely.
 

tennis_error

Professional
Well of course it is. Djokovic is the only one who has defeated Nadal at Roland Garros in the last 13 years, and did it multiple times, and Nadal has failed to do the same in AO, plus the 19-0 in sets on HC lost that alone makes it obvious who is his most dangerous rival.

But the opposite is true also, Nadal is Djokovic's most dangerous rival, because Nadal outside of Djokovic has the best big match mentality of any player on tour.

These two are still ahead of the curve.
I don't think so. I think Federer is the worst match up for Novak, with his offensive and cleaver game. Novak has more success against Federer because Federer was more often there to play him, even when Federer wasn't in his best form. On the other side, Nadal h2h is HEAVILY clay skewed, and Nadal played Novak on hard courts and on grass, vastly when he was at his very best (that's great level of tennis)... In short, Novak results against Nadal, if you look only at numbers, are very misleading... and still Novak is ahead in h2h, which is incredible... :D
 

ballamaz

Rookie
Clay is the joker in the pack.

Take that out of the equation and Fed, Djoko become masters.

Davydenko becomes the final boss.
 

Hitman

Bionic Poster
I don't think so. I think Federer is the worst match up for Novak, with his offensive and cleaver game. Novak has more success against Federer because Federer was more often there to play him, even when Federer wasn't in his best form. On the other side, Nadal h2h is HEAVILY clay skewed, and Nadal played Novak on hard courts and on grass, vastly when he was at his very best (that's great level of tennis)... In short, Novak results against Nadal, if you look only at numbers, are very misleading... and still Novak is ahead in h2h, which is incredible... :D

I am just talking current players though.
 
Yeah it's great Nadal on clay is much better than Djokovic off it.
That's the truth I admit, for sure. But also Djokovic is much better on clay than Nadal off it. Which is quite logical at the end of the day, since one of them is the surface specialists, and the other one is an all- round player. ;)
 

The_Order

G.O.A.T.
Yeah it's great Nadal on clay is much better than Djokovic off it :D

The only true way to look at it:

14 clay > 12 hc
6 hc < 7 grass
2 grass = 2 clay

Nadal better on their best surface...

Djok better on their second best surface...

Equal on their worst surface...

You look at what their game works best on and how well they adapt it to the other surfaces...
 
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clayqueen

Talk Tennis Guru
That's the truth I admit, for sure. But also Djokovic is much better on clay than Nadal off it. Which is quite logical at the end of the day, since one of them is the surface specialists, and the other one is an all- round player. ;)
How did you work that out? Let's just take the slams. Rafa is 4/16 at the USO and Djokovic is 3/16. Rafa is 14/17 in his best slam on clay and Djokovic is 9/17 in Australia. Djokovic is 2/18 at Roland Garros.


Nadal


Djokovic
 
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initialize

Hall of Fame
Clay is the joker in the pack.

Take that out of the equation and Fed, Djoko become masters.

Davydenko becomes the final boss.
This.

Davydenko is Nadal’s ultimate nightmare and gave him more trouble than Fed or Djokovic ever did. Maybe he didn’t mention him because he’s repressed those memories…
 

thrust

Legend
This.

Davydenko is Nadal’s ultimate nightmare and gave him more trouble than Fed or Djokovic ever did. Maybe he didn’t mention him because he’s repressed those memories…
Rafa played Novak many more time than Davydenko did. Had they played more, Nadal would have dominated, IMO.
 
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The_Order

G.O.A.T.
and This why Nadal is so great that even though he favors clay he beat the so-called HC GOAT at the biggest HC tournament in the world, in finals no less.

If he didn't choke being up a break in the 5th set of AO12 and those bp chances he had late in 5th set of WIM18 the slam race would be over already...

Djok scraped past him by the skin of his teeth both times... so much for being so superior...
 

Rudiiii

Semi-Pro
He is using the present tense - so, who else is he going to say? Federer is already retired and not a present day rival anymore - has not been for a couple of years as he didn’t play much.
Nadal and Djokovic played four matches in three years, all on clay, three at RG, and Nadal leads 3:1. I think their rivarly last couple of years is not as big as they are making it to be. Nadal not making it deep at other GS or not even playing them due to injury doesn't help it for sure. Djoko vaccine status too
 

bullfan

Legend
Nadal speaks the truth. Of course Novak has been the most dangerous, he started the Adriac tour and they all went dancing at a disco, where a number of players got covid. Novak recklassly didn’t tell a reporter than he had covid during an interview, and then tried to subvert Australia rules due to his self importance. Also, how many times has Novak had covid and possibly given it to others?
 
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