The mental aspect had a huge impact against Novak," Nadal's confessions about his rivalry with Djokovic

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Arthur Millot

le 05/09/2025 à 16h39

2 min to read

Djokovic Federer Nadal

Nadal and Djokovic have electrified world tennis for over a decade, together pushing the physical and technical limits of the sport. With 60 duels between them—31 wins for the Serb and 29 for the Spaniard—it remains one of the longest rivalries in history (the first being Navratilova vs. Evert with 80 meetings).

In an interview with The Athletic, the left-handed Majorcan explained how much he had to evolve his game to continue competing with the Belgrade native:

"We never had time to relax. We had to push our limits all the time to stay competitive in that era. When I trained, I trained to improve, but at the same time, you had these rivals who kept moving forward.

After 2011, I knew I had to add things to my game. It reflected how tough the situation was. So, at the end of the season, I told myself: 'OK, what do I need to do to try and have better chances against him, especially on hard courts?' And after talking with my uncle Toni and the rest of the team, we drew up a plan.

To beat Djokovic, I had to be more aggressive and have a higher-quality ball with my forehand. That was my goal. I needed my body and physical performance to be at the highest level to compete with Novak on a hard court.

Roger managed to shorten points very quickly with his serve, but Novak and I had more similar games. He was better than me on hard courts without a doubt, but in 2013, 2014, I was able to compete with him.

Then, later on, with physical issues, you lose a bit of confidence in some of your movements. You start avoiding certain things because you're afraid of getting injured. So, the mental aspect had a huge impact against Novak. I needed that extra energy in terms of movement, to push my game and my body to their limits.