Rafael Nadal has stated that Novak Djokovic is the greatest tennis player of all time (GOAT) as “the numbers don’t lie” while he also discussed the 24-time Grand Slam winner’s image, saying “he’s a good person”.
Djokovic leads almost every metric when it comes to being the most successful men’s tennis player of all time as he has won the most Grand Slams (24) with Nadal second on 22 and Roger Federer another two adrift.
The Serbian has also spent a mindblowing 412 weeks at No 1 in the ATP Rankings with Federer a distant second on 310 weeks and finished as year-end No 1 a record eight times. He has won the most ATP Masters 1000 titles (40) and also won a record seven season-ending ATP Finals.
And while some believe that selecting the greatest player of all time is subjective, for Nadal it is a case of stats and there is a clear winner as he also made it clear that Djokovic is a “good person” despite the image he portrays when he is playing tennis.
Djokovic is known for breaking rackets on court and getting involved in arguments with officials, but Nadal says “he’s much better than he looks”. “The image he projects is worse than what he really is,” the Spaniard said after he was asked about the world No 1’s image during an extensive interview with El Objetivo.
“He’s a good person, with his mistakes… but he’s much better than he looks. To me when someone with so much success has to project… “Novak breaks his racket but the next point he’s one hundred per cent, that’s why he’s the most successful player in the history of our sport. The numbers don’t lie, he’s the best in history.”
Nadal was also asked about his incredible rivalry with fellow Big Three members Djokovic and Federer.
The trio dominated the sport for more than two decades as they won just about every single title on offer and the 37-year-old feels they inspired each other to achieve greater things.
“We have shared most of our career. I arrived very young and he [Federer] was in his prime,” he said.
“We have helped each other a lot, and we have taken a lot away from each other… Not only with Roger, but also with Novak. We knew we couldn’t fail. We had a clear path marked out to know how to improve.
