Novak Djokovic Called ‘God’ by ATP For Defeating Rafael Nadal on Clay, Fans Bring Up Roger Federer to Slam Governing Body

In 2011, Novak Djokovic defeated his great rival Rafael Nadal on his home turf, on clay in Madrid. This was a monumental win for the Serbian which gave him the belief that he could compete with the best on any surface. Nadal has always been known as the ‘King of Clay’, making that defeat a rarity.

The ATP Tour released a video via TennisTV, of the Madrid Open 2011 match and labelled Djokovic’s performance as someone who was in ‘God Mode’. The match was a close encounter and although the Serbian won, there was not much to seperate the duo. This caption from ATP has got mixed reaction from the fans.

ATP slammed for exaggerating about Novak Djokovic

Djokovic and Nadal put on a great show in their showdown in Madrid in 2011. To be fair, Tennis TV has used the term ‘God Mode’ for both Nadal and Federer on previous occasions when showing their great performances as well. However, fans believed that calling Djokovic’s performance against Nadal as ‘God mode’ was unfair on the Spaniard who fought just as hard. Djokovic’s win was largely due to him winning more ‘clutch’ points.

The ‘God Mode’ caption for Novak Djokovic got the fans involved in the debate and brought back the ever-present rivalry between the ‘Big Three’ back to life. Fans brought up Roger Federer’s important role in ending Novak Djokovic’s amazing 41-match winning streak, when the Swiss maestro defeated the Serbian at the French Open in 2011. Federer got the better of Djokovic in an epic match at the semi-finals.

Djokovic turned the tables on Nadal from 2011 Madrid win

The victory in Madrid in 2011 marked a watershed moment in Djokovic’s rivalry with Nadal. It was the start of Djokovic’s dominance in men’s tennis, which saw him rise to the World No.1 ranking. Djokovic also mentioned later that Nadal was not taking his impersonations well after he started losing more often to the Serb.

Novak Djokovic has been the most successful player of all-time against Rafael Nadal on clay. The 2011 match was the first out of his 8 wins against Nadal on clay. In fact, Nadal and Djokovic’s last 3 clashes have come on that surface itself. Fans would be hoping that the two arch-rivals play once again on it, possibly at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Novak Djokovic leads 30-29 in his rivalry against Rafael Nadal and 28 of those matches have been played on clay. Remarkably, Nadal has won only 8 matches across other surfaces against Djokovic so far. The Spaniard hasn’t won a single set against the Serb in any hard court match since 2013.