Rafael Nadal has proclaimed that Novak Djokovic does not have many opportunities left to win a 25th Grand Slam title as he described his former rival\u2019s longevity as \u201cadmirable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Djokovic<\/a> holds the record for the most men\u2019s singles Grand Slam titles in tennis history, having secured his 24th and most recent major at the 2023 US Open.<\/p>\n The 38-year-old Serb was vying to become the oldest major singles champion in tennis history at the 2026 Australian Open, where he lost to world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz in a four-set final.<\/p>\n Nadal<\/a> collected 22 Grand Slam crowns before calling time on his staggering career in 2024, which puts him second on the all-time men\u2019s major list behind Djokovic.<\/p>\n Djokovic and Nadal formed what was arguably the greatest rivalry in the history of men\u2019s tennis, having contested 60 matches \u2014 a men\u2019s Open Era record \u2014 between 2006 and 2024.<\/p>\n During an appearance at a charity golf tournament at the Club de Campo in Madrid, Nadal was asked about Djokovic\u2019s bid for a 25th major.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s done; I don\u2019t think we need to analyse tennis based on who wins,\u201d said the former world No 1.<\/p>\n Rafael Nadal addresses Djokovic, Alcaraz, Sinner debate and asserts Patrick Mouratoglou is \u2018wrong\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n When will Novak Djokovic play next after withdrawing from Qatar Open?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cHe had an opportunity in Melbourne, and at this stage of his career, to be honest, he doesn\u2019t have that many left, and I think what he\u2019s achieving is admirable.\u201d<\/p>\n The 14-time Roland Garros champion also spoke about being a fan of tennis since his retirement.<\/p>\n \u201cIt feels calmer and without any strange feelings because my time here ended the way it was meant to,\u201d said the 39-year-old.<\/p>\n \u201cI extended my career longer than I ever imagined, and now I\u2019m completely happy to see my colleagues succeed, and in a way, I also enjoy their success.\u201d<\/p>\n Nadal shared his thoughts after Djokovic defeated world No 2 Jannik Sinner in a thrilling five-set semi-final at the Australian Open.<\/p>\n \u201cIt must have been difficult for Jannik to accept this defeat, because he was the favourite, but he must understand that he faced a player with a special and unique trajectory in this tournament,\u201d the Spaniard said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe had opportunities. He couldn\u2019t take advantage of them, and in the fifth set things changed, the momentum was clearly in Novak\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n \u201cWe learn from everything and he is a very humble guy with a great capacity for self-criticism.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I am convinced that he will pay a lot of attention to what happened to avoid it happening again.\u201d<\/p>\n Before the final, Nadal was asked whether he wanted Alcaraz or Djokovic to win.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Novak wins, I\u2019ll be happy for him because, in a way, what he\u2019s doing is spectacular,\u201d Nadal said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t be a tragedy for me, but if I have to support someone, I feel I have to support Carlos.\u201d<\/p>\n READ NEXT: Jannik Sinner No 1 over Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev 7th \u2013 alternative men\u2019s rankings<\/a> The post Rafael Nadal makes \u2018it\u2019s done\u2019 comment on Novak Djokovic\u2019s hopes of 25th Grand Slam<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rafael Nadal has proclaimed that Novak Djokovic does not have many opportunities left to win a 25th Grand Slam title as he described his former rival\u2019s longevity as \u201cadmirable.\u201d Djokovic holds the record for the most men\u2019s singles Grand Slam titles in tennis history, having secured his 24th and most recent major at the 2023 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1746\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Tennis News<\/h2>\n
What Rafael Nadal said during the Australian Open<\/h2>\n
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