Novak Djokovic recounts time Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal dominated him

Novak Djokovic says Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal prevented him from winning more Grand Slams early in his career but also credits them for making him extremely determined and motivated to improve and ultimately reach his current heights. 

After establishing himself as a major talent and making a couple of deep Grand Slam runs in 2007, the Serb became a Major champion at the start of the 2008 season after beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Australian Open final. While he remained a top player in the next couple of years, his second Slam victory didn’t come until exactly three years later when he won his second title at Melbourne Park.

By the time Djokovic won his second Major, Federer had already been well above 10 Slam wins. On the other side, Nadal had nine of those in his collection. 

But that 2011 season was the game-changer for the Serb – who won three Majors that year – and then started dominating the Slam scene and going from the hunter to the hunted. Now, he owns an all-time record of 24 Slam titles while the Swiss finished with 20 and the Spaniard is set to retire next month with 22 titles in that category. 

“It took me three years to win my second Grand Slam and I was No. 3 in the world for those three years. I was also No. 2 in 2009 and I was playing at a very high level, but I couldn’t get to win Grand Slams because of those two. They dominated everything. I didn’t have the formula to beat them,” Djokovic said in an interview with La Nacion.

“I was able to win one or two matches against them, but not the important ones. Those three years were crucial for my development. They made me hungrier to win, especially against them. I knew that if I could find a way to be like those guys in the big matches, and I knew a lot of that came from the mind, I could somehow figure out the Grand Slams and start winning more. And that’s what happened.”

Uncle…