Rafael Nadal’s career is coming to an end, and 2024 might be his last year of competitive play. And one of his fiercest opponents, Novak Djokovic, wants to face him at least once more.
Djokovic said kind words for Nadal in a recent interview: “I have a lot of respect for a legend like him, with whom I hope to be able to play at least one more time before he retires. I have a lot of respect for Rafa; he is a good person and a legend of our sport. He is my most important rival. In Australia, I said I hoped to see him in one or two tournaments and I hope to do that.”
With 24 Grand Slam singles victories, Djokovic leads all men’s tennis players in history and is regarded as the greatest of all time, while Nadal has 22 major wins. Djokovic will not be competing in the Madrid Open, while 37-year-old Nadal is scheduled to play against American Darwin Blanch.
Novak Djokovic in 2024
Currently the world no.1, Novak played his last match on the 13th of April when he surrendered to world no.6 Casper Ruud 6-4 1-6 6-4 in the semifinal in Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (draw).
This season Novak owns a 11-4 match record. Novak Djokovic’s most significant achievement of the year was reaching the semifinal at the Australian Open and Monte Carlo.
Rafael Nadal in 2024
Now ranked no.512, Nadal played his last match on the 17th of April when he lost to world no.11 Alex De Minaur 7-5 6-1
in the 2nd round in Barcelona (draw).During this season the Spaniard achieved an overall 3-2 match record.
Rafael Nadal will come up against Darwin Blanch in the 1st round. They have never competed against each other up to now on the main tour.
Nadal won 92 titles in his career: 24 on hard courts, 63 on clay courts, 1 on indoor courts and 4 on grass courts. (See the list of his titles)
He is also scheduled to play in Rome (Internazionali BNL d’Italia) on the 8th of May and French Open (French Open) on the 26th of May.
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal played each other 59 times. Their current record is 30-29 for Djokovic. Previously, the last time they squared off, Rafael Nadal won 6-2 4-6 6-2 7-6(4) in the quarter in Paris (French Open) in May 2022.
In the following video you can watch the highlights.
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal |
| Embed from Getty Images |