How Nadal’s pre-match habits riled Djokovic at Roland-Garros

Novak Djokovic’s hyper-focus has proved invaluable as he has dominated the top of men’s tennis. One of the keys to his supremacy has been his attention to detail when it comes to assessing his opponent.

“Even though there is no physical contact in tennis, there’s still a lot of eye contact,” Djokovic said in an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes. “When we are changing ends, when we’re sitting on the bench, and then the big screen shows him how he drinks his water. And then I’m looking at him. How is he drinking water? Is he sweating more than usual?

“Is he breathing deeply or not deeply? And then I look how he’s communicating with his team. You have all these different elements that are in play that really affect the performance and the game itself.”

How Rafael Nadal’s routines had an impact on Djokovic

But this way of dissecting his opponent’s routines had a double-edged effect at the start of his career, particularly against the man whose habits are notorious and who was to become his greatest rival: Rafael Nadal.

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“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 trying to give each other space. But then the locker room is also not that big. 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. Early in my career, I didn’t realize how all of that was part of the scenario. I was gettin intimidated by that. But it also motivated me to do stuff myself to show that I’mready for battle, ready for war.”

The Serb faced the Spaniard for the first time in 2006. At the time, he had lost to him 6-4, 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the French Open. Up until the summer of 2009, after his first 18 duels against the man nicknamed “Rafa”, “Nole” had gone 14-4, and 4-0 in Grand Slam matches.

Nadal-Djokovic: the greatest rivalry in men’s tennis history

Since then, the Belgrade native, while still trailing in Grand Slams – 11-7 to Nadal – has reversed the trend in the total of their 59 meetings: 30 wins to 29. Over the years, the two men have established the longest-running rivalry in tennis history in terms of number of matches played, with the Majorcan winning the last one, in the semi-finals of Roland-Garros 2022.

By surface, Nadal largely won on clay – 20-8 – while Djokovic clearly took the lead on hard court – 16-5 – and the advantage on indoor hard court – 4-2. On grass, the head-to-head was evenly balanced: 2-2.

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