Novak Djokovic has explained why he’ll ‘never be friends’ with fellow tennis legends Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in a new interview.
Djokovic, Federer and Nadal are collectively known as the ‘Big Three’, having dominated professional men’s tennis for around two decades.
The trio are considered to be among the greatest players of all time with Djokovic still active after Federer and Nadal retired in 2022 and 2024.
Djokovic has won a total of 24 Grand Slam singles titles, with Federer finishing his career with 20 and Nadal hanging up his racket with 22.
With the Serbian approaching the end of his own career, he admits he has ‘great respect’ for Federer and Nadal but could never be friends with them.
‘Nadal is only a year older than me, we are both Geminis, at first we even went to dinner together, twice. But even with him, friendship is impossible,’ Djokovic told Corriere Della Sera.
‘I have always respected and greatly admired him. Thanks to him and Federer, I grew up and became who I am.
‘This will unite us forever, therefore I feel gratitude towards them. Nadal is a part of my life, in the last 15 years I’ve seen more of him than my mum!
‘We have never been friends. Between rivals, it is not possible, but we have never been enemies.
‘I’ve always had respect for Federer, he was one of the greatest of all time. He had an extraordinary impact, but I’ve never been close to him.’
Djokovic has never seemed to receive the same amount of love and appreciation as Federer and Nadal from the majority of tennis fans.
‘I guess he was the party crasher of Rafa and Roger fans,’ Federer said in his Federer: Twelve Final Days documentary last year.
‘There was a lot of Rafa-Roger love there, so when Novak came probably a lot of people said, ‘Look, we don’t need a third guy. We’re happy with Roger and Rafa’.
‘The Federer fans at the beginning didn’t really like him because they just thought, ‘Roger’s a bit more easy, he does it with ease’.
‘Then Novak came in with his strong personality and that unbelievable grit of wanting to win at all costs.
‘I think also Novak was triggered by the relationship with the fans. I think that deep focus maybe scared some people away. I think he’s been a little bit misunderstood.’
Nadal, meanwhile, told the Served with Andy Roddick podcast: ‘With Roger the matches, in my opinion, the reason why the rivalry with Roger was a bit more attractive for the fans than Novak against me…
‘Even if I played more times with Novak, and we played exactly the same amount of important matches, if not more… with Roger the strategy was more clear.
‘I was trying to do one thing. He was trying to do the other thing. In some way, I was trying to kill his backhand all the time.
‘Even if I had the chance to play the shot down the line, I was saying to myself, ‘Okay, when I have to play the shot down the line, it’s only for two reasons’ – the first reason is because I go for the winner.
‘The other reason is because I need to keep him away from that side to create more space.
‘He was trying to avoid that. He was trying to play more aggressive. Every time he was hitting one forehand, I felt like I was in a step back.
‘His forehand for me is… yeah, the best that I played against. It’s a little bit more of a chess match. Everybody knows what’s going to happen.
‘Everyone knows what the strategy is going to be. When he was playing very well, he beat me. When I was playing very well, I beat him.’