Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic? Rafael Nadal names player who was easier to face

Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer won 66 out of the 83 Grand Slams between 2003 and 2023.

Rafael Nadal has claimed that facing Roger Federer was easier than facing Novak Djokovic. The Big Three dominated tennis for nearly two decades, winning multiple accolades, including a total of 66 Grand Slam titles between 2003 and 2023.

However, following the retirement of Federer and Nadal, the last member of the trinity, Djokovic, is also in the twilight phase of his career.

Speaking to GOAT GOLF, where the former Spanish tennis star was sitting alongside NFL icon Tom Brady, Rafael Nadal was quizzed on the difference between facing his two arch-rivals, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.

Responding to the question, the 22-time Grand Slam champion stated that they are completely different from each other.

When it comes to the question of who gave him a more arduous challenge, Nadal chose Djokovic over Federer. The 14-time French Open champion claimed that it was difficult for him to devise a real tactic to beat Djokovic because the Serbian tennis star was consistently strong in his game.

Nadal and Djokovic have played the most matches against each other on the ATP tour: 60. The Serb leads the overall tally (31-29) as well as the finals (15-13). However, Nadal leads Djokovic 11-7 at the Majors, and he also leads the Serb 5-4 in Grand Slam Finals.

The Spaniard said on the podcast, “I think with Novak, the match is more equal, more predictable. But at the same time, it was more difficult for me to have a real tactic on it because you need to play very well and just the small details to beat him. To beat him, you need to [be] unbelievable and that’s the truth.”

Also Read: On this day: How Novak Djokovic reset his rivalries against Rafael Nadal and began new era of tennis dominance

Later, when talking about facing Federer, Nadal claimed that the Swiss maestro had a completely different style of playing compared to him.

Thus, people found their clashes interesting to watch, but Nadal always had a clearer approach to going into the match against Federer.

Rafael Nadal added, “And against Roger, the styles were so different, I think that made the matches a little more interesting for the people. I had a better clear way of how to approach the match with Roger.”

The former Spanish tennis star leads Federer 24-16 in their overall head-to-head tally. Similarly, he also leads the Swiss maestro 14-10 in the finals.

Between the 2005 French Open and the 2010 US Open, the two won 21 out of the 23 Grand Slams. The only two remaining ones were won by Novak Djokovic (2008 Australian Open) and Juan Martin del Potro (2009 US Open).

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