Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic both withdrew from the ATP 1000 event in Montreal but they had different reasons to do it.
While the Spaniard is still troubled by an injury in abdominal, Novak Djokovic is not allowed to enter Canada and therefore he was not able to participate in Montreal. Now, Rafael Nadal hopes to get fit before the 2022 US Open starts, but while he can influence his future, his Serbian opponent faces a more difficult situation.
The 21-time Grand Slam champion may be denied entry to the United States and then his main rival will be in a pole position to win the 23rd Grand Slam title. However, if he wins, he will face a lot of questions about Djokovic and that's unfair according to Ivan Lendl, who is currently coaching Andy Murray.
"That story is not over yet," Lendl told Croatian channel Nova TV. "It will be finished when all three say goodbye. At the moment, Roger seems to be out of it, because he hasn't played for a long time and he is the oldest. It is fascinating to watch and follow, not only for people from the tennis world, but for everyone else, spectators, fans."
"The only thing I regret a little bit is that the fight is somehow affected by politics at the moment because of the vaccination issue. I only hope that in 20 years we won't look at it through that prism, that we won't be sure who is the greatest because of politics."
"If Rafa wins one more title, I think he will have to answer the question about the vaccination and the fact that Novak could not play. And I don't think that's fair. I'd actually like to see someone have a two, three, four title advantage at the top," said Lendl.
"I don't care who it is, I don't have a favourite. Just for the sake of answering that question, to be clear, and not to say 'if this man could play, maybe it would be different, your record is not that good'. That is not fair".
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