Djokovic Reveals He Was Initially 'Pissed Off' To Compete With Nadal & Federer
ATP
Novak Djokovic is slowly but surely building a compelling case for the greatest tennis player of all time (GOAT), but he was initially annoyed to have to compete with two other potential GOATs.
When you hear the name Novak Djokovic, you can’t help but think of the tremendous competitor that he is. A player who, for all intents and purposes, was never supposed to be where he is. Djokovic is truly an embodiment of someone who worked extremely hard for everything he has.
To get where he is today, he had to face some of the best players to ever play the game, namely Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Those players have helped him get to his level because they pushed each other to get to new heights, which is exactly what happened.
Djokovic, these days, credits them with helping him become the best possible version of himself. Still, at the start of his career, he had very different feelings about both of them.
He was mostly annoyed that he had to face them, for obvious reasons, as revealed in his recent interview with CNN. Who wants to struggle in life and go through hardship to get to where they want to be? Isn’t it easier to simply cruise to that?
For sure, but that’s not as admirable. The way things happened in the end is much better for the legacy of Djokovic and both of those players.
"They made me stronger, both mentally, physically, my game was improved because of all these matches that we played against each other, mostly because of the matches that I lost to them, some big matches."
Had there not been those rivalries, perhaps all of them wouldn’t have even gotten to the level they ended up reaching. It’s impossible to tell, but what is known is that it was well worth it in the end.
