{"id":78468,"date":"2025-05-06T06:43:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T06:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/78468\/"},"modified":"2025-05-06T06:43:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T06:43:11","slug":"what-novak-djokovic-said-roger-federer-and-rafael-nadal-helped-him-do-after-winning-his-first-roland-garros-title-in-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/78468\/","title":{"rendered":"What Novak Djokovic said Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal helped him do after winning his first Roland Garros title in 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Novak Djokovic had to overcome some significant obstacles to win everything there is to win in tennis.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Djokovic won the Olympic gold<\/a> on the grounds of Roland Garros<\/a> last year, which was the only big title that he had not won in his tennis career.<\/p>\n

There are now questions over Djokovic\u2019s motivation<\/a>, as he has suffered a drop off in form so far in 2025.<\/p>\n

While the Olympic Games<\/a> were his big goal last year, Djokovic was previously seeking a Roland Garros title that had eluded him until 2016.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto by Dennis Grombkowski\/Getty ImagesWhat Novak Djokovic said Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal helped him do after winning Roland Garros<\/p>\n

Djokovic did not always love playing on clay<\/a>, and had already lost in three Roland Garros finals before the 2016 tournament.<\/p>\n

However, after nine-time Roland Garros champion, at the time, Nadal<\/a> withdrew from his third round match due to a wrist injury, Djokovic<\/a> found himself with an opening.<\/p>\n

Djokovic took full advantage of this and dropped only one set en route to the final, where he would play Andy Murray<\/a>, guaranteeing a new Roland Garros champion.<\/p>\n

Djokovic had lost to Stan Wawrinka<\/a> in the 2015 final, but this time overcame Murray in four sets to win his first Roland Garros crown.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Not only was this first Roland Garros title historic for Djokovic, but it also meant that he held all four major tournaments at the same time.<\/p>\n

Djokovic was the first man to hold all four Grand Slam tournaments at the same time since Rod Laver<\/a> in 1969, with even his biggest rivals Nadal and Roger Federer<\/a> unable to achieve this feat.<\/p>\n

When asked in his post-match press conference<\/a> how it felt to make history, Djokovic actually praised Nadal and Federer for helping him improve as a player.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, first, they\u2019re still active players, so I think it\u2019s fair to say that they still have a chance to do,\u201d said Djokovic. \u201cBut they were both not a match but couple sets away from doing that a few times in their careers.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, I was saying a million times before and I will say it again: These two guys \u2014 and Andy, as well \u2014 the rivalries with all three of the guys have definitely, in a big part and big margin, helped me to become a better player and helped me achieve all these things.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, look, you know, the rivalries that we have are important for the sport, and in one way or another you try to compare yourself to them and what they have achieved before. Nadal and Federer were so dominant in the sport when Andy and myself came in in the mix.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, again, I\u2019m just glad to be \u2014 at the beginning I was not glad to be part of their era (Laughter). Later on I realized that in life everything happens for a reason. You\u2019re put in this position with a purpose, a purpose to learn and to grow and to evolve.<\/p>\n

\u201cFortunately for me I realized that I need to get stronger and that I need to accept the fact that I\u2019m competing with these two tremendous champions and that, you know, then everything was uphill from that moment on.\u201d<\/p>\n\nRoland Garros 2016<\/strong><\/td>\nDjokovic\u2019s Result<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nFirst Round<\/td>\nDjokovic beat Yen-hsun Lu, 6-4 6-1 6-1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nSecond Round<\/td>\nDjokovic beat Steve Darcis, 7-5 6-3 6-4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nThird Round<\/td>\nDjokovic beat Aljaz Bedene, 6-2 6-3 6-3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nFourth Round<\/td>\nDjokovic beat Roberto Bautista Agut (14), 3-6 6-4 6-1 7-5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nQuarter-final<\/td>\nDjokovic beat Tomas Berdych (7), 6-3 7-5 6-3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nSemi-final<\/td>\nDjokovic beat Dominic Thiem (13), 6-2 6-1 6-4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\nFinal<\/td>\nDjokovic beat Andy Murray (2), 3-6 6-1 6-2 6-4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

How Novak Djokovic said he compared himself to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal<\/p>\n

Djokovic was further questioned about completing the non-calendar year Grand Slam, and asked about whether he felt he had come out from under the shadow of Federer and Nadal.<\/p>\n

Although he did not want to get too much into that debate, Djokovic did admit that he had compared his own game to his greatest rivals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s me to judge that,\u201d said Djokovic. \u201cI\u2019m not \u2014 in some ways I was comparing myself to them in terms of game and what I need to do to learn to get the best out of my abilities and try to overcome the challenge of winning against them and trying to break their dominance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not comparing myself to them, you know, as people, as persons. We are all different. We\u2019re all unique in our own ways, and I have great respect for both of them and what they have \u2014 who they are, first of all, and what they have achieved in their life. They mean a lot to the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlus, they are years ahead of me in terms of being part of professional circuit. They are great champions on and off the court, and because of the time they spent on the tour, they have lots of fans around the world and lots of support. It\u2019s wonderful to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just glad to be competing with them. That\u2019s all. I obviously am trying to focus and direct my attention to what I do and to who I am and what I bring to the life and to the sport. So I think all of us contribute something different.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto by Julian Finney\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Djokovic has since added two more Roland Garros titles to his resume, and now has more major titles than both Nadal and Djokovic with 24.<\/p>\n

However, this year he will be heading into the clay court major without any match wins on clay, confirmed after Djokovic withdrew from the Italian Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic had to overcome some significant obstacles to win everything there is to win in tennis. Djokovic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[4294,4295,4296,13325,15172,79,1068,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-78468","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-roland-garros","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tennis","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114459535291485648","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78468","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=78468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}