"It was never my intention" - Rafael Nadal responds to Novak Djokovic's claims of being 'intimidated' by him at French Open
Rafael Nadal has addressed Novak Djokovic's recent claims of feeling 'intimidated' by him in their French Open encounters.
In their 18 Grand Slam meetings, Nadal and Djokovic have locked horns 10 times at the French Open. While the Spaniard holds a dominant 8-2 winning record at the claycourt Major, Djokovic remains the only player to have beating Nadal twice at Roland Garros.
In a recent interview, Djokovic recalled his experience of sharing a locker room with Nadal in Paris. He disclosed that being confronted with the Spaniard's pre-match routine in such close quarters would 'piss him off' before they stepped onto the court.
"I'm playing Nadal in Roland Garros, and I have his locker next to my locker, right? So, we are so close. And we're tryin' to give each other space. But then the locker room is also not that big," he said on CBS' 60 Minutes.
"And, the way you jump around like Nadal does before we go out on the court. In the locker room, he's doing sprints next to you. I can even hear the music he's listening to, you know, in his headphones. So, you know, it's pissing me off," he added.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion admitted to feeling 'intimidated' by this initially, before he eventually began to view it as added motivation.
"Absolutely. Early in my career, I didn't realize how all that's part of the scenario, right? So, I was getting intimidated by that. But it's also motivating me to do stuff myself and to show that I'm ready, you know? I'm ready for a battle, for a war," he said.
However, Nadal has clarified that it was never his intention to intimidate the World No. 1, asserting that his sole focus had always been on completing his typical warm-up routine to gear up for the contest ahead.
"It was never, never, never my intention. I warm up like this. I try to be prepared and ready to go, and I exercise, nothing more. I haven't heard what he said, honestly," Nadal told Spanish publication El Pais.
"Novak Djokovic has greatly enhanced his virtues, but he has not adapted his game radically" - Rafael Nadal
In the same interview, Rafael Nadal shed light on his different approaches to facing his arch-rivals, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. Nadal asserted that while the Serb has significantly improved his strengths over the years, he hasn't made any drastic adjustments to his game.
The Spaniard also likened his battles against Federer to a "chess game," highlighting the constant awareness they had of each other's intentions during a match.
"He (Novak Djokovic) has greatly enhanced his virtues, but he has not adapted his game radically. To play against Federer I had a very clear tactic.
"He knew what I was going to look for. I knew he would try to defend himself. It was a chess game. And when you were wrong, you knew it," Nadal said.
He contrasted his matches against Federer to those against Djokovic, disclosing that beating the 24-time Grand Slam champion relied less on strategy and more on maintaining a consistently high level of performance.
"With Djokovic, there is not that level of strategy in the matches. You have to play at a very high level and for a long time to beat him, it's different," he added.