Rafael Nadal explains why his matches vs Roger Federer were ‘more interesting’ than Novak Djokovic, ‘that’s the truth’

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Rafael Nadal has been part of some of the greatest matches in tennis history with both Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

Nadal, Federer and Djokovic dominated the Grand Slams for many years and are the three leading players in terms of men’s major singles champions.

However, only Djokovic is still playing on the ATP Tour, with both Federer and Nadal now retired from tennis.

As he now looks back on his career, Nadal has suggested the reason why he preferred playing against Federer.

Rafael Nadal suggests why his matches against Roger Federer were more interesting than with Novak Djokovic

It is no secret that Nadal and Djokovic are not close friends, despite there clearly being a lot of respect between one another.

When discussing his rivalry with players, Nadal told NFL legend Tom Brady why he thinks his rivalry with Federer was more interesting, and labelled Djokovic’s game ‘predictable’.

“It’s completely different. I think with Novak it’s more you know equal, predictable,” Nadal said during a round of golf with Brady. “But at the same time, it was more difficult for me to have a real tactic on it because you need to play very well and just the small details. To beat him you need to do it unbelievable, and that’s the truth.”

“Against Roger, the styles were so different, I think that made the matches a little bit more interesting for people and yeah I had a better, clear way of how to approach the match with Roger.”

When further discussing his rivalry with Djokovic, Nadal spoke about how difficult he found it to figure out how to combat the Serbian’s game and specifically referred to the 2011 season, when he lost seven matches in a row.

“One year I lost too many times with Novak,” added Nadal. “2011 I lost final of Indian Wells, final Miami, final Madrid, final Rome, final Wimbledon and final US Open. And then the next year I lost the final of Australia.

“Because it’s only one against the other, it’s difficult to change the dynamics. So it’s coming back and understanding what’s going on, why I am not able to win. Because it’s only one against one, makes the things mentally more tough I think.”

Rafael Nadal’s Head-to-head vs Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer

Although Nadal claims that his matches with Federer were more interesting, he actually has a more closely contested head-to-head with Djokovic.

Djokovic leads the head-to-head against Nadal, while the Spaniard has the advantage against Federer.

Unsurprisingly due to his dominance on the surface, Nadal has an emphatic lead over both Djokovic and Federer on clay.

However, that lead is overturned on hard courts, with Djokovic beating Nadal in 20 of their 27 meetings on the surface.

Nadal appears to have raised his level for the Grand Slam tournaments more than his rivals, with a winning head-to-head against both Djokovic and Federer at majors.

This includes Nadal beating Djokovic in five of their nine Grand Slam final meetings.