{"id":92157,"date":"2025-10-14T14:53:28","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T18:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=92157"},"modified":"2025-10-14T14:53:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T18:53:28","slug":"djokovic-nadal-federer-rivalries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/10\/14\/djokovic-nadal-federer-rivalries\/","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic opens up on rivalry with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic recently gave an honest assessment of his long-standing relationships with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera<\/em><\/a>, in which he discussed his time on court his two rivals as well as their interactions away from the spotlight.\u00a0As the last active member of the iconic \u201cBig Three,\u201d Djokovic offered an interesting insight into the personal dynamics of a trio that defined the greatest era in tennis history.<\/p>\n

On Rafael Nadal: Respect Without Friendship<\/h4>\n

Djokovic and Nadal have shared one of the fiercest rivalries in sports history, clashing a men\u2019s record 60 times across two decades. Yet despite their mutual respect, Djokovic admits that true friendship between them was never possible, despite him being closer to the Spaniard than he was to Federer.<\/p>\n

\u201cNadal is only a year older than me, we are both Geminis, at first we even went to dinner together, twice,\u201d Djokovic revealed. \u201cBut even with him, friendship is impossible. I have always respected and greatly admired him. Thanks to him and Federer, I grew up and became who I am. This will unite us forever; therefore, I feel gratitude towards them.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He went on to describe Nadal as a constant presence in his professional life, humorously adding:<\/p>\n

\u201cNadal is a part of my life, in the last fifteen years I\u2019ve seen more of him than my mother! We have never been friends. Between rivals, it is not possible, but we have never been enemies.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On Roger Federer: Mutual Respect, Different Paths<\/h4>\n

When it comes to Roger Federer, Djokovic\u2019s sentiments were similar. While he holds deep respect for the Swiss maestro, he acknowledges that they were never personally close.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always had respect for Federer. He had an extraordinary impact, but I\u2019ve never been close to him.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Djokovic\u2013Federer rivalry was conteted over the course 50 matches from 2006 to 2020. Remarkably, they are the only players to have defeated each other at all four Slam tournaments, a testament to the balance of their rivalry, with little to split them in a head-to-head Djokovic leads narrowl 27-23.<\/p>\n

A Legacy That Unites the Big Three<\/h4>\n

Though friendship may have eluded them, Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer remain forever linked by their shared dominance and influence over modern tennis. As Djokovic continues competing at the highest level, he stands as the enduring symbol of the Big Three\u2019s unmatched era, one built on rivalry, respect, and an unrelenting pursuit of greatness.<\/p>\n

Main photo credit: Peter van den Berg-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic recently gave an honest assessment of his long-standing relationships with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, in which he discussed his time on court his two rivals as well as their interactions away from the spotlight.\u00a0As the last active member of the iconic \u201cBig Three,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5608,"featured_media":82933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1735],"tags":[9270,22,135,114],"class_list":["post-92157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atp","category-all-time-best","tag-big-three","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-rafael-nadal","tag-roger-federer"],"modified_by":"Jim Smith","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5608"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92157"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92208,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92157\/revisions\/92208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}