Rafael Nadal reveals two strategies he used to beat Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic - 'It was a chess match'
Published 11/03/2025 at 16:07 GMT
Rafael Nadal spoke about the strategies he would adopt when taking on his 'big three' rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. The trio dominated tennis for two decades, winning 66 of the 84 Grand Slams available between Wimbledon 2003 and the 2024 iteration of the tournament. Nadal retired in November 2024, having claimed 92 career singles titles, 22 Grand Slams and two Olympic gold medals.
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic
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Rafael Nadal opened up about the strategies he would adopt when taking on Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Nadal ended his glittering career in November last year after claiming an astonishing 92 career singles titles, 22 Grand Slams and two Olympic gold medals.
But the Spaniard’s 23-year professional career was also marked by his rivalry with contemporaries and fellow greats Federer and Djokovic, with the trio often referred to as ‘the big three’.
Indeed, between Wimbledon 2003 and Wimbledon 2024, the trio collectively won 66 out of 84 Grand Slams, with Djokovic winning 24, Nadal 22 and Federer 20 major titles.
And whenever they were made to go toe-to-toe, the match-ups were memorable.
Speaking on ‘Served with Andy Roddick’ Nadal explained that he adopted "different approaches" when playing against Federer and Djokovic, adding that his strategy against the former lent itself to more "attractive" matches.
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"Against Roger the strategy was more clear," Nadal explained. "I was trying to do one thing. He was trying to do the other thing.
"I was trying to kill his backhand all the time. For me even if I had the chance to play the shot down the line [I would go for his backhand.]
"If I had a chance to play the shot down the line it was only for two reasons. One is because I’m going for the winner, or two it’s because I need to move him away from the side to create more space [elsewhere].
"And he was trying to avoid that. He was trying to play more aggressively. Every time he was hitting a forehand I felt myself move a step back because his forehand is the best that I’d played against.
"So it’s more of a chess match. Everyone knows what’s going to happen and everyone knows what the strategy is going to be."
Nadal continued: "For me, he was making mistakes against me at the beginning of his career by trying to play off his backhand with topspin. He gave me the chance to hit a forehand against his backhand.
"At the end of his career, he decided to go in, and take more risks and he was playing for me in 2017 at the best level of his career. You felt like you were in his hands.
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"Of course, on clay it was a little bit different but on hard he played very aggressively and his serve was so difficult to read.
"Of course, he was very precise but for me the Roger serve was very difficult to read because he was able to change. It was very difficult to predict what was going on."
In his 60 encounters with Djokovic however, Nadal admitted he had no fixed strategy other than to play "really well all the time".
On playing the Serbian, Nadal said: "The feeling is to play very well for a long time and know that I have to adjust things.
"Now I can’t play too much against his backhand, especially with high balls because then he puts you in a very difficult position, so I started to use the slice against him, which sometimes served me well.
"And sometimes against Novak it was good to play through the middle. Don’t give him a lot of angles.
"With Novak, when you are able to open him, if you don’t create a lot of damage he is able to open you up. In terms of ball control he is the best I ever played against and the best I ever saw."
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