Rafael Nadal’s uncle and former coach, Toni Nadal, has accepted Novak Djokovic as the best player in tennis history. This claim has come after the Serb’s historic Olympic Gold medal win on Sunday, August 4. Toni, who is currently the coach of Felix Auger-Aliassime, has enjoyed tremendous battles with Djokovic and his respective coaches. The Spaniard was Rafael Nadal’s coach from the early 1990s until 2017 when Carlos Moya took over the coaching role.
Toni was statistically the most successful tennis coach until Marian Vajda won his 17th Grand Slam as Djokovic’s coach. That Grand Slam triumph came at the 2020 Australian Open, where Djokovic beat Dominic Theim in five sets to win his eighth Australian Open title. The 63-year-old has battled against three different coaches of Djokovic: Vajda, Boris Becker, and Andre Agassi. What did Toni Nadal say?
Toni Nadal’s Comments
“The images of Carlos crying on the court with clear signs of grief and frustration have left us with a bitter feeling, but they must not make us think that this is a defeat. He lost a match that could have been in his favor, giving his best at all times, fighting until the last ball as we know he usually does.
“Holding in suspense an entire country that enjoyed watching him for his great tennis and his passion. His silver medal against the best tennis player in history deserves, without a doubt, all our admiration.” Toni Nadal wrote in his column for El Pais.
Toni also reflected on the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, which has been controversial to this date. However, the Spaniard believes there are many positives for the fans to cherish in the ceremony. One of them for tennis fans was definitely when soccer legend Zinedine Zidane gave Rafael Nadal the Olympic torch. Rafael Nadal eventually handed it over to 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams. The two tennis icons carried the torch on the boat with French ambassadors.
Rivalry with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer
With Djokovic’s Olympic Gold medal win over Carlos Alcaraz, the Serb completed the set of every major tennis trophy in the cabinet. The 37-year-old became only the second player after Andre Agassi to complete the Career Super Slam. The Career Super Slam is an achievement for winning all four Grand Slams, an Olympic Singles Gold medal, a Davis Cup, and an ATP World Tour Finals. However, Djokovic has also won every Masters 1000 in his career, which nobody else has done.
The two players closest to this achievement were Djokovic’s two main rivals, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Rafa, who lost to Djokovic in the second round of the Olympic Singles, has not won the ATP World Tour Finals. Moreover, Rafael Nadal missed out on winning the Miami Masters, Shanghai Masters, and Paris Masters. On the other hand, Federer couldn’t win the Olympic Singles Gold Medal. He also couldn’t secure titles in Monte Carlo and Rome.
Conclusion
Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic are three of the most influential tennis players in history but also have a huge number of fans worldwide. Although everyone can have reasons to still have the GOAT debate, we can only look at the numbers, and they don’t lie. Djokovic has every title in the book, which isn’t the case with either Federer or Rafael Nadal. Hence, Djokovic is the greatest tennis player of all time.
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