Djokovic talks about the Big 3: "At first, I think Federer and Nadal didn't appreciate my level of confidence"

With the Australian Open 2025 just a few days away, Novak Djokovic made the front page of GQ magazine, where he gave a lengthy interview retracing several elements of his legendary career.

Mentioning Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, the Serb described the difficult beginnings of their rivalry: "I always try to be respectful and friendly with them off the court.

But I wasn't accepted at first, because I went on court saying and showing that I was confident and wanted to win.

And I don't think they both appreciated that at first. Particularly because a lot of players went out on court to play them, not to win.

And that confident attitude probably alienated them even more from me.

And I accepted that. I understood that the message I got: we were rivals and nothing else. To be honest, it's very difficult to have a friend on the circuit.

If you're the biggest rivals, you're constantly competing and you're #1, #2 and #3 in the world, being close, going to dinners or spending vacations together as a family, it's hard to expect that."