Rafael Nadal the Greatest Ever and Novak Djokovic One of the Greatest?

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at Internationaled.org

Published: March 21, 2011

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Rafael Nadal: I lost today but I lost against one of the greatest.

Novak Djokovic: You are the greatest ever for me.

That was the core part of the exchange between World No. 1 Nadal and No. 2 Djokovic on the podium yesterday after the Serb rendered the Spaniard lifeless by the beginning of the third set of the Indian Wells Masters final. It got to the point that some Rafaphiles wondered if their favorite player uncharacteristically decided to call it quits.

Verify the exchange here: Djokovic was not joking, and the publicly expressed opinion of the World No. 2 cannot be taken as merely personal either.

In the post-match interviews, both Nadal and Djokovic were asked about the exchange. 

Nadal, who is well aware that he is barely past the halfway mark toward Federer's 16 Grand Slams with nine, laughed at the baseless praise and said, "It's not true." 

But the Serb went on to defend his claim.

"I think he's the best ever because, even though he's 24 years old, he has done so much already," Djokovic said. "Many years in front of him too, I think even to overtake [Federer] in the Grand Slam trophies." 

This was the first time Djokovic has called Nadal the greatest player ever, though he praised Nadal once before in similar terms, right before the US Open final 2010:

"I think already he's one of the best ever because he has won an Olympic gold medal, he has won Davis Cup, he has won every major except this one and so many tournaments," Djokovic said at the time. "He has the records of 1,000 events as well, and he's still only 24 years old. So it's just incredible what he has done so far in his career."

It now seems that Djokovic obliged Nadal to call the Serb one of the greatest. To me, this was tentatively rehearsed in some light-hearted private conversation before it came out recklessly in public.

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Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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