Novak Djokovic on Rafael Nadal: Amazing Achievement, Always Impressive Fighting Spirit

As with Federer on the other thread, classy response from Novak, best of luck…

January 31st, 2022 at 1:51 am

This says it all Oki and Jatin:

“Sport is lived in the moment and at this moment Rafa Nadal stands alone as the greatest man to have swung a tennis racket with his 21 Grand Slam titles. The final judgement, of course, will be made when the Holy Trinity are all retired but in becoming the first Australian Open finalist to win from two sets down – 13 years on from last winning the championship – Nadal stopped the clocks.”

January 31st, 2022 at 2:57 am

https://twitter.com/pluckyloser/status/1487797729141018625?s=21.
Champion! Vamos Rafa.

January 31st, 2022 at 5:17 am

https://twitter.com/moyinis/status/1487888897925394436?s=21 This is hilarious

January 31st, 2022 at 5:57 am

Awesome I’m speechless with joy, this is just amazing, thanks for the congrats from the lovely people on here, Skeezer, Madmax, Tennis Vagabond your awesome

January 31st, 2022 at 7:36 am

Of course in the GOAT debate this will get argued because Novak did not play, but you have to be amazed by Rafa getting this win under the circumstances, simply incredible. Congrats champ!!!!

January 31st, 2022 at 11:42 am

Hi Madmax……Yes, he did stop the clocks….simply amazing. What a warrior and at 35. Just a big WOWZER! Tennis fans have watched some spectacular matches from three of the best to have ever payed the game. What a thrill it has been. THE BIG 3 ROCK!!!!

January 31st, 2022 at 11:56 am

…….but Lyle, he was at the US Open, what happened there? Number 21 was there for the taking. I guess he felt the pressure….the human factor in all of this.

January 31st, 2022 at 12:04 pm

@Madmax
He did stop the clocks! What a warrior, and at 35! What a thrill it’s been watching these three amazing athletes doing their thing!
THE BIG 3 ROCK! BTW I wish Andy could have been healthier, I love him too! He’s had rough go if it the last couple of years. It was good to see him back competing once again.

January 31st, 2022 at 12:13 pm

My goodness, what the hell more does he have to do, the man’s won 21 GS, a second career GS, and it still ain’t good enough for some people, so they still put down his achievements, and the indirect sly digs about Novak not being there, can’t this just be about Rafa and his achievement and leave Novak out of this….

January 31st, 2022 at 12:46 pm

Rafa never made an excuse about anything when he looses or things are to his disadvantage. With Roger, 2017 final, medical time out/only 1 day rest from semi-final. Novak, Wimbledon 2018 semifinal, roof getting closed at the last minute. Stan, injured in the 2014 final even though he has not lost a single set enroute final including trashing Roger in the semifinal. Always a CLASS act. Let’s learn few thing from this amazing human being and wishing him & family the very BEST

January 31st, 2022 at 1:55 pm

So the day after the clocks stopped, we click on this website, and Novax has top billing and a photo. As that kid from “School of Rock” said, “You’re tacky and I hate you.”

January 31st, 2022 at 7:58 pm

It was Rafa’s day. Novak was at the US Open to win his 21st (and also at the Olympics, by the way).

February 1st, 2022 at 3:55 am

Where is Bog Boy and VP? They seem to have done the disappearing act. Lol

February 1st, 2022 at 6:39 am

This means nothing in the overall GOAT debate. When Rafa takes a set off Novak on hard courts, then we can discuss. But the current streak stands at 19 at Novak’s side.
This does mean one thing, though – Novak, Rafa and Roger, they are arguably the last true champ generation. They managed to destroy all the generations that came after them (1991, 1996, 2001…). Their opponents will soon be young enough to be their children, and they will still keep trashing them in the big events.

February 1st, 2022 at 11:39 am

This title means nothing. It is not valid. We all know Novak would have beat Nadal 6-1, 6-2, 6-1. It’s really sad if you think about it. Once Novak was gone, Nadal could return to his old form. Aggressive, magnificent defense, and captivating patterns of play. All this time it wasn’t that Nadal was an aging superstar that had lost a step, he was just scared. I hope he manages to find this form with Novak in the draw but somehow I don’t think it will ever happen.

February 1st, 2022 at 8:20 pm

“ We all know Novak would have beat Nadal…..”
And we all know Djoker couldn’t beat Medvedev for a GS title, something Nadal just did.

February 2nd, 2022 at 12:40 am

And Novak beat the King of Clay … ON CLAY :)

And this at the French Open, that must have been frustrating!

February 2nd, 2022 at 12:44 am

Zed,
The chip on your shoulder must be huge. I don’t think Rafa much cares about losing 1 FO to Djoker. He’s won 13 of them. And now he is the all time GS title holder. Let him enjoy it, it was well deserved.

February 2nd, 2022 at 1:02 am

@Siddy,

This title means nothing to you maybe and probably some other insufferable Djokovic fanboys. For the rest of the world his 21st GS is just as valid as this other 20.

February 2nd, 2022 at 1:49 am

“I don’t think Rafa much cares about losing”, well that’s good then given what’s coming for him.

I will say it again. The only tournaments Rafa will win are those where Novak is not playing. Rafa will need more politicians to prevent Novak from playing if he is to win any more tournaments.

February 2nd, 2022 at 2:39 am

@Zed,

Are you going to eat your words and apologise to everyone here if in fact Rafa does win a tournament in which Novak was there?

February 2nd, 2022 at 3:37 am

Anto, in that unlikely eventuality we will see what we will see.

Let’s all hope that little Emmanuel doesn’t follow the Davos orders, and that he stays out of the way so that Novak is allowed to play in the French.

However, if little Emmanuel does follow orders (like the disappointing Scott Morrison did) and deports Novak for “what he represents” then we will need to wait until Wimbeldon.

I’m assuming the Rafa cheer squad will be a bit less confident on grass than on clay.

Oh wait! Maybe Roger will put the walking stick aside and play Wimbeldon! Nahhhh, that’s just dreaming, he’s not playing again due to fear of bageling.

February 2nd, 2022 at 3:59 am

@Zed,

“Anto, in that unlikely eventuality we will see what we will see”.

You mean you will come up with some random excuse then instead of admitting you have no clue what you were talking about?

Well given you are looking at Djokovic and the rest of the tennis world through your fanboy glasses I am not really surprised.

February 2nd, 2022 at 4:19 am

Ifs, buts would, could, should, mean diddly squat in the real world, when you look hard enough you can put an asterisk against any win, to suit your narrative, just doesn’t mean a thing, suck it up Novak fans, Rafa won this title fair and square, end of, great write up Sean by the way

February 2nd, 2022 at 6:29 am

No disrespect to the nice Novak fans here

February 2nd, 2022 at 7:18 am