{"id":33165,"date":"2025-03-15T02:22:43","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T02:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=33165"},"modified":"2025-03-15T02:22:43","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T02:22:43","slug":"rafael-nadal-shares-true-feelings-for-federer-and-djokovic-in-rare-statement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=33165","title":{"rendered":"Rafael Nadal shares true feelings for Federer and Djokovic in rare statement"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\"Rafael<\/picture>\n

Rafael Nadal discussed his relationship with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic (Image: Served podcast)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Rafael Nadal opened up on his relationship with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic after they spent almost two decades locked in a heated rivalry. The Big Three faced off on the sport\u2019s grandest stages with the biggest titles on the line. Between them, they have won 66 Grand Slam titles.<\/p>\n

The Spaniard officially retired at last year\u2019s Davis Cup, leaving Djokovic as the last active player of the Big Three. Four months after ending his career, Nadal gave a rare insight into how he truly feels about his greatest rivals and explained what he wanted the next generation of tennis players to learn from their years of competition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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During their era of dominance, Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic took tennis to new heights. Not only did they break records and rewrite history, but their rivalries brought new eyes to the game and will go down as three of the greatest rivalries in all of sports.<\/p>\n

By the time he retired in November, Nadal had faced Djokovic a staggering 60 times and played 40 matches against Federer. After years of intense battles, each of them would be forgiven if they had a frosty relationship.<\/p>\n

But the 14-time French Open champion has now explained how the three always had \u201crespect\u201d for one another and saw each other as humans away from the court, rather than \u201chating\u201d each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we as rivals showed the world that we can be the biggest rivals, but at the same time, we can be colleagues,\u201d Nadal said while appearing on Andy Roddick\u2019s Served podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I don\u2019t say best friends, but we can have a good personal relationship, you know?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n\"Rafael<\/picture>\n

Rafael Nadal said he always respected Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cAnd I think that shows a positive example to the next generations. I am proud of that. You know, we grow this with this, I mean, in some way, wild rivalry that we had between Roger, Novak, myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut at the same time, we were able to not lose the perspective that we are human people. We don\u2019t fight against each other. I mean, we respect each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old is hoping young players can follow in their footsteps and form friendly relationships while maintaining fierce competition on the court.<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cI think that helps these new generations to understand that you don\u2019t need to hate the opponents. You can respect, you can appreciate the opponent, because at the end, they are an important part of your lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you don\u2019t need to hate the opponents to give your best. That’s what I think we showed the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Nadal already believes there are some younger champions who have adopted a similar mentality. \u201cI think Carlos [Alcaraz] is a great kid, a great guy, with a very good family behind him, with positive values. They are humble, they are good people. That\u2019s true,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that’s why I think Carlos is how he is. Because at the end, the values you receive at home, the way that you are educated then is the way that you show up. And I see the same with Iga [Swiatek].<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Jannik [Sinner] is another good guy, not much showing off, focusing on what he\u2019s doing. Of course, he went through a very, very tough process the last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s amazing the way that he was able to keep being focused on what he\u2019s doing. But I think it\u2019s a new generation of great tennis players there, and I think they\u2019re going to keep helping this beautiful sport to grow and to engage fans.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rafael Nadal has given an insight into his relationship with his two biggest rivals, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis"],"yoast_head":"\nRafael Nadal shares true feelings for Federer and Djokovic in rare statement - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=33165\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rafael Nadal shares true feelings for Federer and Djokovic in rare statement - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rafael Nadal has given an insight into his relationship with his two biggest rivals, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=33165\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-15T02:22:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/4-74.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"940\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"652\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=33165\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=33165\",\"name\":\"Rafael Nadal shares true feelings for Federer and Djokovic in rare statement - 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