Rafael Nadal wasn\u2019t initially adored by tennis fans as many preferred the \u201cmost loved player\u201d Roger Federer, but things changed once Novak Djokovic arrived on the scene.<\/p>\n
That is the view of former world No 6 Gilles Simon in a wide-ranging interview.<\/p>\n
The Big Three of Djokovic<\/a>, Nadal and Federer dominated men\u2019s tennis for the best part of two decades as they shared 66 Grand Slams between them and set numerous other milestones along the way.<\/p>\n Federer<\/a> initially led the way as he made his major breakthrough at Wimbledon in 2003, but his stranglehold was broken when Nadal arrived in 2005 with his French Open title and they formed the Big Two.<\/p>\n Djokovic \u2013 who won his first major at the 2008 Australian Open \u2013 then made it the Big Three and he eventually went on to broke several of Federer and Nadal\u2019s records, including the Open Era Grand Slam record as he sits on 24 with Nadal on 22 and Federer 20.<\/p>\n But Djokovic has not always received the love and affection of Federer and Nadal<\/a> as fans didn\u2019t like the fact that he broke up the original Big Two.<\/p>\n In an interview with RG Media<\/a> and CLAY<\/a>, Simon says Nadal was also initially an outcast.<\/p>\n \u201cRemember, Roger was the most loved player, maybe ever. And most fans didn\u2019t like Rafa when he showed up,\u201d the Frenchman said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut they started liking him more when Novak came on the scene. I\u2019m 100% sure of it. Rafa became more appreciated once fans started comparing him to Novak instead of Roger.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cNovak was already better than most when he arrived, but he was still behind Roger and Rafa.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think many people believed he\u2019d surpass them \u2014 not even Roger and Rafa themselves. So when he started doing it, people didn\u2019t like it. Everyone loved the Roger\u2013Rafa rivalry. They didn\u2019t want a third guy.\u201d<\/p>\n How Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal changed the culture in the locker room for the better<\/a><\/p>\n The 10 greatest male grass court players of Open Era \u2013 ranked!<\/a><\/p>\n According to Simon, Djokovic has always been \u201ctrue to himself\u201d and his decision not to get vaccinated against COVID-19 proved that.<\/p>\n The Serbian was infamously deported from Australia in 2022 after he refused to get inoculated and he subsequently missed several other big events, including the 2023 US Open.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was the \u2018villain\u2019 early on, but here\u2019s what I admire the most \u2014 he\u2019s true to himself. For example, refusing the vaccine even if it meant giving up Slam records. He didn\u2019t fake it,\u201d the 14-time ATP Tour singles title winner said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the beginning, he tried to please everyone, get more attention, and that came off as inauthentic. Eventually, he said: \u2018This is who I am. I\u2019m Novak Djokovic. Like me or not\u2014I know who I am.\u2019 That kind of stance earned him respect.\u201d<\/p>\n The Frenchman feels the 24-time Grand Slam winner is finally getting the love he deserves, stating: \u201cWhen he said he wanted to break Roger\u2019s and Rafa\u2019s records, people thought it was arrogant.<\/p>\n \u201cBut now that he\u2019s done it \u2014 you have to tip your hat. He\u2019s earned the respect, and now he\u2019s even getting love from fans and the whole tennis world. That wasn\u2019t there in the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n The post \u2018Novak Djokovic refused the vaccine even if it meant giving up Slam records, he didn\u2019t fake it\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rafael Nadal wasn\u2019t initially adored by tennis fans as many preferred the \u201cmost loved player\u201d Roger Federer, but things changed once Novak Djokovic arrived on the scene. That is the view of former world No 6 Gilles Simon in a wide-ranging interview. The Big Three of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer dominated men\u2019s tennis for the […]<\/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-629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629","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=629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Tennis News<\/h1>\n