By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Friday, June 13, 2025
Picture credit score: Stephane Cardinale/Corbis/Getty
Massive 4 champions stood shoulder to shoulder in a poignant and highly effective Roland Garros tribute ceremony for Rafa Nadal final month.
Now, Grand Slam king Novak Djokovic is opening the curtain on his relationship together with his fellow Massive 4 champions.
In a brand new interview with Slavena Bilića, 24-time main champion Djokovic says whereas he respects all of his rivals, he is at all times gotten alongside higher with King of Clay Rafael Nadal than with Roger Federer. Djokovic stated from his perspective their historic battles had been skilled challenges—not private grudges.
“Simply because somebody is my largest rival doesn’t suggest I want them hurt, hate them, or wish to do anything on the courtroom to defeat them,” Djokovic stated. “We fought for the win, and the higher participant received…
“I’ve by no means stated a single unhealthy phrase about them and by no means will. I appeared as much as them and nonetheless do, however I’ve at all times gotten alongside higher with Nadal.”
Conceding “I used to be by no means as cherished as Federer and Nadal”, Djokovic stated some followers seen him as an intruder on the Roger-Rafa rivalry and stated fan antipathy made him really feel “like an undesirable little one.”
“I acted and nonetheless felt like an undesirable little one,” stated Djokovic. “I requested myself why that was. It damage me.
“Then I believed the followers would settle for me if I acted in a different way, however that wasn’t the case both.
“I used to be by no means as cherished as Federer and Nadal as a result of I wasn’t purported to be there. I used to be the little man, the third man who got here alongside and stated: ‘I will be No 1’. Many individuals did not like that.”
