Djokovic–Nadal rivalry
From March 2011 to April 2013, the pair contested eleven consecutive tournament finals, with Djokovic winning eight and Nadal three, the only duo to achieve such a feat in the Open Era.
[12] Their 2012 Australian Open final has been lauded as the greatest match ever played by some long-time tennis pundits, analysts, and former players and legends of the sport.
[25] The final encounter between the two in 2007 was in the round robin phase Tennis Masters Cup, with Nadal emerging victorious.
The first and only meeting to date in the Davis Cup happened in the first round of the World Group in the fourth rubber, which Nadal won to clinch the tie for Spain.
They then met for the first time in a clay-court final at the Monte Carlo Masters, with Nadal winning a closely contested three-setter and his fifth consecutive Monte-Carlo title.
Nadal won the match in four sets, thus becoming the youngest player in the Open Era to complete a career Grand Slam.
[38] Their second encounter came during the round-robin stage of the ATP World Tour Finals, where Nadal beat Djokovic in straight sets.
The pair met again in the 2012 Rome Masters final, where Nadal defeated the defending champion Djokovic in straight sets to regain the trophy he had won five times before.
This was a match of historic proportions as either Nadal would break Björn Borg's record of six French Open titles, or Djokovic would become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win four majors in a row.
In exactly the same fashion the player leading by a break in the final set committed an uncharacteristic error (Nadal missed an easy backhand pass at 30–15, 4–2 in the fifth in Melbourne, while Djokovic ran into the net after hitting a what would have been a clean winner at 4–3 in the fifth in Paris), only to spark a momentum shift for their opponent to break back and ultimately win the match.
They met yet again in the semifinals of the ATP World Tour Finals, in which Djokovic won in straight sets and leveled his head-to head with Nadal for the first time at 23–23.
A resurgent Nadal defeated an out of form Djokovic in the Madrid Open semifinals, 6–2, 6–4 to reverse a trend of losses.
A resurgent Djokovic beat Nadal in a semifinal epic at Wimbledon in five sets stretched over two days, lasting over five hours.
Nadal won his ninth Italian Open title, overcoming Djokovic to triumph at the Foro Italico 6–0, 4–6, 6-1 after two hours and 25 minutes.
On their ninth encounter at Roland Garros, Nadal and Djokovic met in the semifinals of the French Open, in a rematch of the previous year's final.
[59] After over two years of not playing each other, the pair met for a record-extending 60th time in the second round of the 2024 Paris Olympics, at the same venue as their prolific French Open rivalry.
In 2015–16 Djokovic managed to be the reigning champion of all four Grand Slam tournaments at once becoming the only player in history to have done so across three different surfaces.
[82] Nadal needed to win the 2010 US Open to complete the Career Golden Slam; this generated much anticipation before the tournament, even more so when he would have to face Djokovic in the final, the Serb having an excellent record on this hard court surface.
[83] He ultimately won the match in four sets (6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2), becoming the fourth man in the Open Era (after Rod Laver, Andre Agassi, and Roger Federer) to complete a Career Grand Slam and the second man in the open era to complete a Career Golden Slam, after Agassi.
[101] The top two players in the world battled in what was the longest Grand Slam final in history with Djokovic prevailing 7–5 in the fifth set in 5 hours 53 minutes.
[105] Tennis legends Björn Borg, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Pat Cash, and Jim Courier have all responded saying this was the greatest match of all time.
[109] Simon Briggs, writing for The Daily Telegraph, stated that "It was certainly the longest, surely the hardest and arguably the greatest Grand Slam final in history.
He never recovered mentally from this mistake and Nadal saved the break and immediately broke back, eventually winning the final set.
Djokovic defeated five-time defending champion Nadal, ending a record 39-match winning streak at the tournament in straight sets.
After a highly competitive first set, Nadal's level declined in the second and third allowing Djokovic to finally get the better of him at the tournament he had dominated for the last ten years.
[158] Due to delay caused by a six-and-half hour semifinal between Kevin Anderson and John Isner, the match started in the late Friday evening.
1 Rafael Nadal staged a dazzling display of shot-making, tactical acumen, defensive wizardry and exceptional athleticism before Djokovic prevailed".
[160] Tennis historian Steve Flink stated that "Djokovic’s triumph over Nadal in the Wimbledon semifinals must rank as one of the greatest and most crucial of his career.
[180][181][182][177] In the most anticipated match of the tournament,[183][184] Djokovic defeated four-time defending champion Nadal in a bruising four set encounter, lasting 4 hours, 11 minutes.
Djokovic then held his serve and closed out the match with an ace, sealing the win and their storied rivalry in their last professional meeting.
