Djokovic and Nadal's dominance has dwindled due to age, players today are still mentally strong: Robin Haase
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, along with Roger Federer, have been miles ahead of everyone else over the last two decades and are still hungry to win. However, the dominance of the two active players has lowered because of their age, believes Dutch professional Robin Haase.
The biggest rivalry among the men belongs to Djokovic and Nadal, with the two legends having squared off against each other as many as 59 times on the tour. The head-to-head reads 30-29 in favor of the former. They are also the current joint record-holders for the highest number of Grand Slam singles titles on the men's circuit — 22.
Speaking to CLAY, Haase, a former member of the ATP Players' Council, touched upon the mental strength among Next Gen players. The 35-year-old further praised Daniil Medvedev and Dominic Thiem for winning a Major each.
"If you make it to top 100 in the world, you are mentally very strong," Haase said. "When people say that a number 10 in the world is not mentally strong, they have not idea what they are talking about. If you are not mentally strong you wouldn’t be there. To win a Slam titlesis something different, is true, it’s always more pressure. But Medvedev has won one, Thiem has won one. It’s changing."
Haase added that although Djokovic and Nadal are still better than others, they are no longer as dominant as they used to be because of their age.
"Yes, Djokovic and Nadal have been proving that they are still competing for this events, that they are still better than the rest, despite not being as dominating as they used to be, but is also normal because of the age," he added.
Djokovic and Nadal could come face-to-face at Davis Cup 2023
Group stage matches for the 2023 Davis Cup are scheduled from September 12-17 in Croatia, Italy, Great Britain, and Spain. Similar to last year, Serbia and Spain have been drawn into the same group, along with the Czech Republic and the Republic of Korea.
Neither Novak Djokovic nor Rafael Nadal participated in the event in 2022. However, if fans are lucky, they could witness the Serb take on the Spaniard as well as World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in Valencia later this year.
The last eight teams will advance to the knock-out stage of the tournament, which will be played from November 21-26 in Malaga.