{"id":181586,"date":"2025-06-13T17:01:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T17:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/181586\/"},"modified":"2025-06-13T17:01:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T17:01:11","slug":"novak-djokovic-says-why-his-relationship-with-roger-federer-and-rafael-nadal-changed-and-names-who-he-understands-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/181586\/","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic says why his relationship with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal changed and names who he understands more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Novak Djokovic\u2019s career is defined by his iconic rivalries with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 38-year-old currently sits on 24 Grand Slam titles having overtaken the major haul of both the Spaniard and the Swiss Maestro.<\/p>\n

For over a decade the pair pursued one another to their limit in their respective matches and forced each other to raise their level of play.<\/p>\n

While the trio enjoyed unparalleled levels of success in their careers, it was Roger Federer<\/a> and Rafael Nadal<\/a> who received more love and adoration from fans, which had a significant impact on Novak Djokovic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"LaverPhoto by Tom Jenkins\/Getty ImagesNovak Djokovic explains why his relationship with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer changed<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nadal and Federer<\/a> dominated the ATP Tour<\/a> until Djokovic established himself as the world\u2019s best player in 2011. The Serbian claimed three Grand Slams that season and amassed a 10-1 record against his fellow rivals.<\/p>\n

Since then Djokovic has positioned himself as tennis\u2019 most successful player having won more majors than his counterparts and claiming every big title in the sport after becoming Olympic champion<\/a> in 2024.<\/p>\n

As Djokovic became more of a force in the game, he claims that Nadal and Federer\u2019s attitude towards him changed.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cMy attitude toward them in that sense never changed. The situation because their attitude towards me changed. I always tried to be, how should I put it? I looked up to them,\u201d Djokovic told (Ne)uspjeh Prvaka\u2019s YouTube channel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still look at them as people who paved the way for me, especially Federer, who is six years older than me. The moment I felt that coldness and distance from him, I said okay, no problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the moment they approached me I opened my arms and said okay. Now they\u2019ve both retired and with Nadal, I have always kind of understood him better. We\u2019re about the same age, so maybe that is why.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"2025Photo by Stephane Cardinale \u2013 Corbis\/Corbis via Getty ImagesNovak Djokovic opens up not receiving the same love from fans as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prior to the French Open, Djokovic won the Geneva Open<\/a> to claim his 100th ATP Tour title.<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old now has eight more career championships than Nadal and he is now just three titles behind Federer\u2019s haul.<\/p>\n

But despite his success and the records he has broken, there is a feeling within the tennis world that Djokovic did not receive the same amount of appreciation from fans as Federer and Nadal.<\/p>\n

Djokovic feels that way and says he felt like an \u2018unwanted child\u2019 compared to the reactions Federer and Nadal and the reactions they received throughout their careers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was the young guy who came in and said I\u2019m going to be number one. They [the media] didn\u2019t like that from the very beginning,\u201d he added. \u201cThey didn\u2019t like that I was there and now I was challenging those two.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd second, like I said, I respect and admire the two of them, as I always have. I have never said a bad word about either of them and I never will, because I have self respect. But I wanted to be better than them and I know I will be. I have no problem saying that, I have always said it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you have to be politically correct in their kind of atmosphere. And then first the media starts, then someone else, then the sponsors. Then the whole machinery kicks in. Powerful sponsors, corporations behind the tournaments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re fighting Goliath and trying to be liked and honestly that\u2019s why I said it hurt me. Because I tried to connect with people on a human level, not just with them. I simply noticed that it was a ruthless competition and a fight. A real war.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s true, I did try to be liked by people a little. Then I realised there\u2019s no need to pretend because it wasn\u2019t me. Trying to be what they wanted, they wanted me to play to their tune. I admit it, that\u2019s how it was.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I felt like an unwanted child. That\u2019s how I felt. At that time I kept thinking why is this happening, what did I do? And it hurt me so much. Then I realised that a part of the tennis and sports public would never accept or love me because of my attitude, behaviour and whatever else. But I am who I am and I sleep peacefully.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic\u2019s career is defined by his iconic rivalries with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. The 38-year-old currently…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[4294,4295,4296,13325,79,1068,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-181586","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-atp","9":"tag-novak-djokovic","10":"tag-rafael-nadal","11":"tag-roger-federer","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tennis","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114677133077108481","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}