Novak Djokovic explains why there is ‘no brotherhood’ with Rafael Nadal

Novak Djokovic has explained why it is difficult for him to have a friendship with Rafael Nadal, after the Serbian beat his rival at the Paris Olympics.

Djokovic beat Nadal, 6-4 6-1, in one hour and 44 minutes on Court Philippe-Chatrier yesterday afternoon.

This makes Djokovic the first person to beat Nadal on three occasions at Stade Roland Garros, as he was already the only person to beat the Spaniard twice.

When asked about their relationship after the match, Djokovic suggested that he is not particularly close to Nadal, “I think there is no brotherhood really. It’s more rivalry, colleagues, respecting each other, appreciating each other’s careers and what we have achieved and brought to the sport.”

The 37-year-old continued, “It’s tough to be close, honestly. [We’re] greatest rivals and you don’t want to maybe give insights into your life or the way you feel and stuff because that can maybe expose you and stuff.

“I guess that’s one of the reasons why we didn’t connect so close and I don’t think at that level you can really connect so close to anybody really.”

15 – Novak Djokovic is the first player to win 15 Men’s Singles matches at the Olympics since tennis returned to the Summer Olympic program in Seoul 1988. Zeus.#Olympics #OlympicGames #Paris2024 | @Paris2024 @atptour pic.twitter.com/2VRLcnWCu5

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) July 29, 2024

Despite this, Djokovic has not ruled out becoming closer to Nadal once the pair have retired from the sport, “But who knows? When the career ends for both of us, it’s a long life hopefully for both of us, we’re both family people and hopefully we can address the different side of the relationship and reflect on things that we went through together, that we lived together, the special moments, in a different way.”

Their contest in the second round of the Paris Olympic Games was a 60th meeting between the pair, which is the most matches between two men in the Open Era.

With there being lots of speculation particularly surrounding Nadal’s future in the sport, Djokovic revealed whether he thought this was their final match.

“Of course it can be but we don’t know that,” answered Djokovic. “It really depends on many different factors, it depends on whether both of us will keep going and whether we’re going to participate in the same tournaments or not. I think we both want to play in the Grand Slams and the biggest tournaments.

“I don’t know, we’ll probably be very selective, I can speak on my behalf, I’ll be very selective with the tournaments I play. I just hope for the sake of our rivalry and the sport in general that we’ll get to face each other once or maybe a few times, different surfaces in different parts of the world because I feel like it can only benefit the sport.”

The 24-time major winner added, “But as I said, I don’t know how he feels in his body, what his plans are, let’s hope we can play some more. I hope we’re going to play more because every match is like a present, to us and to the sport itself.”

Glad our epic rivalry is still a blockbuster, @RafaelNadal. Good luck in the doubles. Idemooo Srbija! 🇷🇸 Слава Богу 🙏🏼🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/A6T5OJIxRn

— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) July 30, 2024

Djokovic appears to be backing up his comment about playing selected tournaments, after it was announced that he would not compete at the upcoming Masters 1000 event in Montreal.

The Serbian will continue his bid for an elusive gold medal tomorrow against German Dominik Koepfer.

Inside the baseline…

It was a pretty emphatic victory for Novak Djokovic over great rival Rafael Nadal, who did manage a late fightback towards the end, but it was just not enough. It has always been clear that Djokovic and Nadal are not the best of friends, while they still have a lot of respect for each other as such fierce rivals over the years. Like Djokovic suggested, they could hopefully become better friends after retiring from the sport and it would not be the first time that has happened, with Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova a perfect example of that!

READ MORE: Rafael Nadal reveals when he could make retirement decision

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