Rafael Nadal endured one of the most successful family coaching relationships with his uncle Toni and Andrea Petkovic has revealed the player whom he saw as the Spaniard’s greatest rival.
The younger Nadal who retired after Spain’s exit from last month’s Davis Cup was coached by his uncle from the age of 4 until the end of the 2017 season during which time, he won 16 Grand Slam titles and finished year-end World Number One on four occasions.
During his 23-year career, the Spaniard had many career rivals, and speaking on the “Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast”, the former French Open semi-finalist Petkovic revealed who the elder Nadal thought was the 22-time Grand Slam Champion’s greatest rival.
Andrea Petkovic reveals that Novak Djokovic was Rafael Nadal’s greatest opponent according to Toni Nadal
During an 18-year rivalry, Djokovic and Nadal faced off 60 times an Open Era record in men’s tennis with Djokovic holding a narrow 31-29 lead after winning their last match at the Paris Olympics in July.
Petkovic shared the particular insight Toni Nadal gave into the unique challenge Djokovic gave to Nadal.
She said: “It is interesting because I talked to Toni Nadal and he said Novak [is the greatest player Nadal faced] and he said the reason for that is Novak sees the ball like nobody else. He is the only one who attacked Rafa’s forehand.
“He gave an example. He said the first few times Novak tried to take Rafa’s forehand on the rise with his backhand and mistimed it a few times and was late on it. Then in the third match he had perfect timing every time. He said he had the best eyes in tennis.”
Despite this particular challenge, Nadal still managed to defeat Djokovic in five out of their record-equalling nine major finals and 11 of their 18 Grand Slam matches overall.
Nadal considered Roger Federer as the “biggest rival” of his career
Petkovic’s remarks comes after Nadal’s own revelations in October in which he considered Roger Federer as his “biggest rival” that he faced in his career.
The Spaniard took on the Swiss legend 40 times between 2004 and 2019 with a 24-16 win-loss record including winning six out of their nine major finals although he lost six out of the last seven matches the pair contested.
In an exclusive interview with AS Nadal said: “I’ve played Djokovic more than anyone else, but for me, my biggest rival was Federer. When I came onto the circuit, Federer was already there, and he was the first. In the prime years of my career, it was Roger and Novak. But in those early years, which are so impactful, it was always Roger.”
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