Novak Djokovic thinks Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal “distanced” themselves from him early as a result of they did not like his large confidence however the 37-year-old had no points with that as a result of that is how rivalries work.
When the Serb got here on the scene, the Swiss and the Spaniard have been dominating the Grand Slam degree and sharing the largest titles between them.
Nevertheless, Djokovic was daring sufficient to publicly state that he had what it took to problem the 2 and grow to be one of many biggest ever.
And whereas nothing was ever publicly confirmed, there have been rumors that Federer did not like him very a lot.
Djokovic: I did not have the acceptance early on from Federer and Nadal
“However I didn’t have the acceptance early on, ’trigger I did exit on the court docket saying and displaying that I’m assured that I wish to win. And I don’t assume that each of them perhaps preferred that within the early days,” the 37-year-old told GQ.
“Particularly because most of the players were going out to play them, not to win. And because of that confident stance, they probably were even more distanced from me. And that’s fine. I accepted it as it is. I understood the messaging that I got, which was we are rivals and nothing else.”
Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer© YouTube screenshot
In the identical interview, Djokovic additionally famous that it’s “very difficult to be friends on the Tour” along with your largest rivals.
Now, the Serb is a report 24-time Grand Slam champion whereas Nadal completed with 22 and Federer had 20.
Though the present world No. 7 had far more Slam success within the latter years of their rivalry, he was accepted far more by Fedal.
When the Swiss determined to retire, he invited Djokovic to be part of the Group Europe lineup.
Relating to Nadal, he additionally spoke very extremely of the Serb quite a few occasions over the past couple of years and even publicly said that the 37-year-old is the perfect ever – at the very least by way of achievements.
