Ever since Novak Djokovic overtook his biggest rival, Rafael Nadal to win a record 23rd Grand Slam in June this year, a vast section of the global tennis community believes that the Serbian indeed is the ‘GOAT’ of tennis. The fact that Djokovic made the most of Nadal’s absence that too on his favorite clay surface in Paris, added fuel to the fire. But the debate seems to be subjective and many players, pundits and coaches have already given their take on it.
Joining the chorus is Rafael Nadal’s former head coach and uncle, Toni Nadal. Toni is known for his straightforward comments on players and the game in general and this time too, it seems that he has managed to polarize opinion dramatically amongst fans. In an interview recently, he was asked to comment on Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic and his take might not entirely please the current World No.2’s supporters.
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal bigger than Novak Djokovic? Uncle Toni thinks so
Toni Nadal was a critical part of Rafael Nadal’s growth and overseeing his prime, which coincided with the Spaniard’s rivalry with Roger Federer redefining the sport. Uncle Toni has largely been full of praise for Federer over the years but has now gone one step ahead by claiming that the Swiss superstar ‘transcended’ the sport first, with his world-famous nephew coming second in that aspect. He was quoted as saying to Clay Tennis –
“I think Federer and Nadal have transcended their sport more than Djokovic. And Federer has transcended more into his sport than anyone. When it comes to cataloguing people who is the best… we would have to establish clear standards that are always a bit debatable, because who is the best, the one with the world record or the one who wins the Olympics?
“Don’t know. I think the one who has managed to play at a better level and do more difficult things is Federer, the one who has won the most is Djokovic and if we told Rafael everything he hasn’t played due to injury, he probably would have won more than the others.”
Has Novak Djokovic been favored over Rafael Nadal?
Rafael Nadal himself has a better record against Roger Federer on head-to-head as compared to Novak Djokovic. However, Uncle Toni feels that Novak Djokovic gains a massive advantage before hand on the ATP Tour since being typically a hard court and indoors specialist, he gets to play more Grand Slam tournaments and Masters series on those kind of surfaces. While Nadal has remarkably managed to win 6 out of his 22 Grand Slams on hard courts so far, his Indoors record is not at par as compared to Djokovic and Federer.
“Well, Djokovic is better because he has won more titles than Rafael. If Djokovic is 23… Although we are going to establish a series of things: we live on a circuit where we always play on a hard court. My nephew always plays three Grand Slams on the surface that is not going well for him and one on the surface that is going well for him,” he said.
“He has played all the Masters always on the surface that is not going well for him. In the world of sport, the leader can unbalance the balance to one side or the other. Who wins the Tour de France? If the leader puts mountain, he will win it by a type of runner and if he puts a time trial he will win it by another type of runner.”
Well, the opinion could be considered an excuse for an uncle and coach to defend his pupil’s shortcomings. Yet, Toni Nadal’s comments put a huge question mark on the ATP Tour’s scheduling, since a majority of the ATP 250, 500 and 1000 tournaments take place on hard surfaces indeed throughout the year such as in North America, South America and Middle East. While clay and grass do get a ‘swing’ of their own, but that is just limited in the months from March-June.
When it comes to the rivalry between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, both more or less have been mutually respectful to each other off the court and play the game to the highest standards and behavior on it. As Roger Federer recently said, ‘As long as Rafael Nadal is playing, the GOAT debate isn’t over’.
