Nadal’s take on Federer & Djokovic

Nadal interviewed by Roddick

On March 11, 2025, Andy Roddick interviewed Rafa and we heard Nadal‘s insightful take on Federer and Djokovic, his tennis journey, the Rafa Nadal Foundation, and life.

Players respect Rafa’s devastating high rising and high RPM forehand. And nearly all acknowledge his ability to reach every ball on the clay court. What came as a surprise was Rafa acknowledging exceptional clay-court sliding abilities on both feet as the secret recipe for his clay court dominance. Both of Nadal’s feet are eqally adept at sliding as running. Whereas the best clay courters have only one good sliding foot. Nadal is blessed with both feet dominance in that department. The ability to slide well on both feet allows Nadal to play freely as well as transfer power into the shots from both wings.

Equipped with a high RPM and high-bouncing forehand shot, quick and untiring movement, and exceptional sliding abilities off both feet, a Clay Court GOAT doth make.

Nadal’s take on Federer and Djokovic

Nadal believes his matchup with Roger was quite simple and a little obvious. He enjoyed sending high-rising forehand shots toward Roger’s single-handed backhand. And the day Roger played and moved exceptionally well, he neutralized Nadal’s advantage effectively.

Federer was forced into a few months of injury time off in 2016. He returned with a retooled backhand and a larger racket head. The large racket head reduced the shanks and gave him the confidence to step in on the backhand. Nadal was on the receiving end of the rivalry from January 2017 until Roger’s retirement, with a 6-1 head-to-head in Federer’s favor. Nadal goes as far as to say that in 2017, “… you felt that you were in his (Roger’s) hands.”

The rivalry with Novak was a little more complicated but less exciting for the fans, Nadal thinks. It always boiled down to playing at the highest level for an extended period and not giving him angles.

It was a game of attrition against Novak, and the last man with wind left in his lungs won, in other words.

Nadal claimed that Novak had the best ball control of all the players he faced.

My take on what Nadal said

I agree with most of Nadal’s perspective on Federer and Djokovic as his rivals. Aggressive players enjoy less ball control and are more error-prone than the defensive ones, and both Nadal and Djokovic are way more defensive compared to Roger.

Nadal is even more defensive than Novak and has more ball control (than Novak) because of the heavier topspin off both wings and the habit of taking the ball a little lower than Djokovic.