Novak Djokovic admitted that he was the third guy in tennis and was not loved as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal during their game days. Djokovic together with Nadal and Federer created Big 3 in tennisAnd they won a total of 66 Grand Slam titles between Trio. The Serbians are a year younger than Nadal and five years younger than Federer and reached the highest level a little later than his Big 3 counterparts.
By 2011, he managed to climb the top of his position and overcame all the main records held by Nadal and Federer, but admitted that he was acting as an unwanted child and thought the fans accepted him if he acted otherwise.
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“I kept and I still felt like an unwanted child. I asked why it was. It hurt me. Then I thought fans accepted me if I acted differently. But it wasn’t so much,” Djokovic said.
Djokovic said he was a little guy in the trio and many people did not like his trust when he said he would be the world No. 1.
“I’ve never been as beloved as Federer and Nadal because I wasn’t supposed to be there. I was the little guy, the third guy who came and said,” I’ll be number one. “Many people didn’t like it,” Djokovic said.
“I’m always with Nadal better”
Despite sharing intense rivalry with Federer and Nadal, Djokovic said he had never hated them and wished to hurt them.
“Just because someone is my biggest opponent does not mean that I wish to hurt them, hate them or want to do anything else on the pitch to beat them. We fought for victory and won a better player.”
Djokovic also said that he respected the duo, but always came out with Nadal better.
“I’ve always respected him as federer; I never said a single bad word about them and I would never look at them and I still did it. But with Nadal I always got better.”
Published on:
June 13, 2025
