Fabresque
Legend
The Djokovic-Federer rivalry was a much better/interesting rivalry than the other Big 3 rivalries.
It finished 27-23. Federer won their first match in 2006. Djokovic won their final encounter in 2020.
Hard court: Both players best surfaces are hard courts (Fed debatable w/ grass but has stated he prefers hard court), both players have held record #’s of HC slams either before or currently. Both players have claims to be the greatest hard court player of all time. H2H is 20-18. Incredibly close. Fed won the first encounter. Djokovic won the last. Both had stretches where they dominated the other. Neither were able to pull away, very back and forth.
Clay court: 4-4. Total deadlock. Nobody had an advantage on this surface. Went back and forth at the masters tournaments and both beat each other once at Roland-Garros.
Grass Court: 3-1 Djokovic. All at Wimbledon. Fed won first encounter in 2012 semi’s. Was defeated in 2014, 15, and 19 finals. 14 and 19 are considered some of the greatest/dramatic Wimbledon finals ever. Both extended five setters.
For most of their careers, it was a total dead heat between the two. Now compare it with other rivalries…
Djokodal: 30-29 for Djokovic. Until 2013 was an ATG rivalry, since then has lost its prestige. Became way too surface dependent. Nadal would win on clay. Djokovic would win on everything else. Clay was 20-8 for Nadal. Hard was 20-7 for Djokovic. Grass was 2-2.
Nadal since 2013 has failed to register a single win on hard courts or grass courts vs Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic since 2013 has registered 5 wins over Nadal in 10 attempts on clay, which doesn’t seem bad, but factor in that 3/5 of these wins came in 2015/16, Nadal’s worst years, it doesn’t look as good.
Nadal from 2012-2017 struggled to get past the first week at Wimbledon, which prevented many potential meetings between the two.
Fedal: 24-16 for Nadal. This was never really a “rivalry”. Was too surface dependent yet again, the only difference being that Nadal was good enough on hard/grass courts to keep up a bit, and was way too good on clay, which enabled him to completely dominate Roger for an extended period until 2015.
2015 onward, Federer figured the matchup out and went 7-1 in their final 8 matches, completely dominating Rafa on hard courts and grass courts. Nadal won the lone clay meeting. No back and forth tussles, surface dependent, this was a rivalry that had either one guy or another guy completely dominate.
Once again, from 2012-2017, Nadal struggled at the first week of Wimbledon which prevented any additional potential meetings.
Federer-Djokovic never had a surface based outcome. It was never totally dominant on one side or another. And whilst Fedal/Djokodal did have very memorable matches (W 2007/2008, AO 2012/2017), Fedovic also provided some of the best matches ever (RG 2012, W 2014/2019, US Open series from 2007-2011).
It finished 27-23. Federer won their first match in 2006. Djokovic won their final encounter in 2020.
Hard court: Both players best surfaces are hard courts (Fed debatable w/ grass but has stated he prefers hard court), both players have held record #’s of HC slams either before or currently. Both players have claims to be the greatest hard court player of all time. H2H is 20-18. Incredibly close. Fed won the first encounter. Djokovic won the last. Both had stretches where they dominated the other. Neither were able to pull away, very back and forth.
Clay court: 4-4. Total deadlock. Nobody had an advantage on this surface. Went back and forth at the masters tournaments and both beat each other once at Roland-Garros.
Grass Court: 3-1 Djokovic. All at Wimbledon. Fed won first encounter in 2012 semi’s. Was defeated in 2014, 15, and 19 finals. 14 and 19 are considered some of the greatest/dramatic Wimbledon finals ever. Both extended five setters.
For most of their careers, it was a total dead heat between the two. Now compare it with other rivalries…
Djokodal: 30-29 for Djokovic. Until 2013 was an ATG rivalry, since then has lost its prestige. Became way too surface dependent. Nadal would win on clay. Djokovic would win on everything else. Clay was 20-8 for Nadal. Hard was 20-7 for Djokovic. Grass was 2-2.
Nadal since 2013 has failed to register a single win on hard courts or grass courts vs Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic since 2013 has registered 5 wins over Nadal in 10 attempts on clay, which doesn’t seem bad, but factor in that 3/5 of these wins came in 2015/16, Nadal’s worst years, it doesn’t look as good.
Nadal from 2012-2017 struggled to get past the first week at Wimbledon, which prevented many potential meetings between the two.
Fedal: 24-16 for Nadal. This was never really a “rivalry”. Was too surface dependent yet again, the only difference being that Nadal was good enough on hard/grass courts to keep up a bit, and was way too good on clay, which enabled him to completely dominate Roger for an extended period until 2015.
2015 onward, Federer figured the matchup out and went 7-1 in their final 8 matches, completely dominating Rafa on hard courts and grass courts. Nadal won the lone clay meeting. No back and forth tussles, surface dependent, this was a rivalry that had either one guy or another guy completely dominate.
Once again, from 2012-2017, Nadal struggled at the first week of Wimbledon which prevented any additional potential meetings.
Federer-Djokovic never had a surface based outcome. It was never totally dominant on one side or another. And whilst Fedal/Djokodal did have very memorable matches (W 2007/2008, AO 2012/2017), Fedovic also provided some of the best matches ever (RG 2012, W 2014/2019, US Open series from 2007-2011).
