According to the former tennis player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Novak Djokovic experienced a phase where he preferred to be Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer above being himself.
The former world No. 5 said that Djokovic is now his true self and that the Serbian would have found love had he been entirely sincere and adopted his warrior attitude from the beginning. The years that the three tennis legends shared were a golden age due to the extraordinary accomplishments and rivalries of the Big Three—Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer.
In their 59 men’s Open Era encounters between 2006 and 2022, Djokovic prevailed 30-29 against Nadal. In 2024, when Nadal is expected to make his comeback from a prolonged injury layoff, the two may pick up their rivalry.
Tsonga stated on a podcast that Djokovic has accepted his unique identity and no longer aspires to be like his two main rivals.
He expressed his remarks about Djokovic and said: “I consider that he had a period where he didn’t want to be himself. He wanted to be Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal when perhaps he should have remained himself all along. I think today he is himself. And even if it is divisive, I think that’s why it is appreciated by many people. Because now he’s completely honest. He doesn’t do things to be appreciated. He does things because he considers that they deserve to be done that way. We gain a lot from being ourselves.”
Tsonga added: “He wanted to get away from this warrior image that he has because he is a Serb who experienced difficult things in his childhood. So he’s a warrior; he should have assumed it from the start. I think he would have been loved for that.”
Novak Djokovic in 2023
LWWWWWWLWW Now ranked no. 1, Djokovic played his last match on the 25th of November, when he lost to world no. 4 Jannik Sinner 6-2 2-6 7-5 in the Rubber 2 of the Davis Cup (draw).
This year, Djokovic owns a 56-7 match record. The Serbian has won seven titles in 2023: Adelaide, the Australian Open, the French Open, Cincinnati, the U.S. Open, Paris, and the Nitto ATP Finals. Novak got to the final at Wimbledon.
pname=”Novak Djokovic” psurname=”Djokovic” tournament_name=”Davis Cup, World Group, SF, ITA-SRB 2-1″ tour_city=”Davis Cup” rank_t=”5″]
Rafael Nadal in 2023
Ranked no. 666, Rafael played his last match on the 18th of January when he was overcome by world no. 41 Mackenzie McDonald 6-4 6-4 7-5 in the 2nd round of the Australian Open (draw).
Currently, during this year, Nadal has a 1-3 match record.
Nadal is scheduled to compete next in Brisbane (Brisbane International). He will start the tournament from the main draw that will commence on the 31st of December, thanks to a wild card.
pname=”Rafael Nadal” psurname=”Nadal” tournament_name=”Australian Open – Melbourne” tour_city=”Australian Open” rank_t=”4″]
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal squared off 59 times. The head-to-head is 30-29 for Djokovic. The last time they played, Rafael Nadal won 6-2 4-6 6-2 7-6(4) in the quarterfinals of the French Open in Paris in May 2022.
Here are the highlights.
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal |
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