Rafael Nadal's rivalry with Roger Federer is remembered as one of the greatest in sports history.
Recently, the Spanish tennis star appeared on Andy Roddick’s YouTube podcast, where he discussed his rivalries with Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Nadal explained why his rivalry with Federer was more appealing to fans compared to his rivalry with Djokovic.
He said, “In my opinion that’s why the rivalry with Roger was a little bit more attractive for the fans, than Novak against me. Even if I played more times with Novak, and we played exactly the same number of important matches, or even more. Because with Roger I think the strategy was more clear.”
Nadal, who announced his retirement last year went on to share, “I was trying to do one thing, he was trying to do another. In some way I was trying to kill his backhand all the time, and even for me, if I had the chance to play the shot down the line, I was saying to myself: Okay, when I have to play the shot down the line it’s only for two reasons: one, for the winner. The other is because I need to get him away from that side to create more space again.”
Nadal explained that Federer’s playing style was very aggressive, especially his forehand which Nadal considered the best he had ever faced.
He compared their rivalry to a chess match where both players and fans knew the strategies they would use.
While, Nadal described his rivalry with Djokovic as different from the one he had with Federer.
“Against Novak it was a little bit different. We can have a strategy, but at the end it is about… I need to play well. We don’t play the same style of course, but there was not a clear strategy like I had against Roger.”
With his retirement, Djokovic is now the only active player remaining from the famous "Big Three" of tennis.
