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Opinion: Why Nadal vs. Djokovic might be the greatest sports rivalry ever
8 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
I was having a text debate with my friend Hugo Armando, the former Delray Beach ATP doubles champ (with Xavier Malisse) about greatest sports rivalries.
I suggested Nadal vs. Djokovic, to which he commented “I would definitely put it in that category – Ali-Frazier, Bird-Magic, Sox-Yankees, Borg-McEnroe, Evert-Martina – but so hard to judge which is better or bigger.”
Which I countered with: “One on one and the continuous, high intensity, pure, ferocious battling of Rafa and Djokovic tops all.”
Baseball, basketball are fun and boxing is the ultimate one on one sport but Ali and Frazier only battled three times and two of their fights didn’t quite live up to the hype.
Nadal vs. Djokovic always lives up to the hype. Every match, every set, every game, every point seems to be contested at such a level of ferocity beyond anything we’ve seen in baseball, basketball or even boxing. These two force each other to go all out on every point. Even in boxing there is a lot of posing, posturing, and pacing. Not so in tennis, Rafa and Nole go after it on every ball. Every point…
I’ve seen all the modern rivalries you can mention and they’re all fun to watch in their own special ways, but there’s nothing like a great tennis rivalry, and Rafa vs. Djokovic is tops in my book.
43 times Rafa and Djokovic continue to fire away at each other, and the intensity levels and physicality of the matches continue to rise.
I know Dan is going to interject Borg vs. McEnroe as a better rivalry than this and it certainly was a terrific clash of styles and personalities, but remember the ending of that rivalry…Borg threw in the white towel of surrender and walked off into the sunset at age 26-27.
But Rafa and Djokovic are approaching 30 and still going at it, better than ever.
(Djokovic artwork by Andres Bella.)
(Scoop’s new book “Facing Nadal: Symposium of a Champion” is now available at amazon for $9.99.)
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Gaurang · June 2, 2015 at 11:58 pm
One interesting tidbit about Rafa. Since the start of his blockbuster season in 2005 on clay, Rafa has lost only 19 matches on clay.
Here are who beat him and how many times:
5 Novak
2 Fed, Fognini
1 Soderling, Murray, Wawrinka, Verdasco, Almagro, Gaudio, Andreev, Ferrer, Zoballios, Ferrero
(from: http://www.tennisabstract.com/cgi-bin/player.cgi?p=RafaelNadal&f=ACareerqqB1F1 )
Wow… never thought about it before. I mean its interesting that only Novak has beaten him more than 2 times on clay. Rafa definitely does not feel as confident playing Novak on clay as compared to any other player.
Gaurang · June 3, 2015 at 1:54 am
I agree Scoop. The Rafa-Novak rivalry is the greatest rivalry in tennis and perhaps all of sport. They fight, fight, fight. Starting from the 2009 Madrid Masters, where Novak lost the match after having match points, their matches have been always fought at peak intensity. Rafa was never troubled by any tennis player other than Novak (and perhaps Davydenko, but they only played 11 matches).
In tennis, no other two players have played more matches against each other.
Novak and Rafa have similar styles, heavy groundstroke play, superior defense, movement, etc with Novak just being more aggressive than Rafa. Some critics complain they have similar styles so watching the matches is not entertaining — but I quite believe the opposite. These guys go at each others like two wild animals, and the struggle (both physical and mental) is amazing to watch.
Rafa vs Federer used to be the most watched match but it does not make sense, since Rafa owns that rivalry.
Dan Markowitz · June 3, 2015 at 2:52 am
No, I wouldn’t put Mac-Borg at the level of Djoko v Nadal, but Mac-Borg did have that signature great match, 1980 Wimbledon, and perhaps the greatest tie-break in the sport’s history. And one was a stoic Swede while the other was a highly-emotional American.
Where’s the great match Djoko and Nadal have had? The 2012 Australian Opens Finals when Djoko won in 5 sets was a good one as was the 2013 RG semis where Nadal won in 5 and 9-7 in the fifth. The amazing stat about Mac and Borg is they only played each other 14 times (7-7), but 4 of those 14 were in GS finals and two went 5 sets and all four matches were played in a span of two years.
Scoop Malinowski · June 3, 2015 at 7:29 am
Thanks for that very important stat Gaurang. Novak has solved the puzzle. But if he can’t beat Rafa today, Rafa changed the puzzle.
Scoop Malinowski · June 3, 2015 at 7:32 am
Gaurang; Furious, tenacious struggle, point after point, ebbs and flows, both dominant both vulnerable, see saw titanic struggles. Like the battle at the end of the movie War of the Gargantuas, but this battle just keeps on going and going…
Scoop Malinowski · June 3, 2015 at 7:34 am
Too many great Djokovic Nadal matches to name Dan, too many. I even remember a Queens final many years ago that was epic. IW final. Miami final. Wimbledon, FO, too many.
Dan Markowitz · June 3, 2015 at 8:21 am
No, I was talking about in finals.
gustarhymes · June 7, 2015 at 4:21 pm
I agree with Scoop on this one. Djoker Nadal is the best rivalry in men’s tennis history given how even the head to head is. You can’t claim in sports altogether, but in non team or individual sports, yes!
Women’s tennis can claim Chris-Martina. Red Sox and yankees will be there forever but you can’t compare to individual sports.
Gusta