This week, Rafael Nadal made a shocking announcement, revealing his decision to retire from tennis. Many athletes have reacted to the news, including former world No. 1 Novak Djokovic. The Serbian tennis star posted on social media but couldn’t hold back and made an additional brief statement.
Details: Novak Djokovic continues his run at the Shanghai tournament. Yesterday, in the quarterfinals, he faced world No. 65 Jakub Mensik and managed to secure a win, despite losing the first set.
During the post-match press conference, Djokovic called Nadal his “main rival” and expressed that the news of Nadal’s retirement remains a shock to him.
Quote: “He [Rafael Nadal] was my main rival.
The rivalry we had defined my career. We knew this moment would come, but it’s still shocking,” Djokovic’s words were reported by ESPN.
Reminder: The Djokovic-Nadal rivalry is the longest in terms of matches played in the Open Era. The two have faced each other 60 times, with Djokovic winning 31 of those matches. In Grand Slam tournaments, Nadal has won 11 times, while Djokovic has triumphed 7 times, with the Spanish player leading 5-4 in finals. In ATP Masters 1000 events, Djokovic leads 16-13, while the finals record is tied at 7-7. The pair have also met twice at the Olympics, with each player winning once.
