Rafael Nadal has said that his approach to tennis is different compared to Novak Djokovic’s, who is more focused and obsessed about breaking records.
Nadal, known as the King of Clay, is currently tied with Roger Federer for the most number of Grand Slam titles in men’s tennis. Novak Djokovic, the youngest member of the Big 3, is two majors short of them.
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In March, Djokovic overtook Federer’s record of most weeks at World No 1. While the Swiss had been in the No 1 position for 310 weeks, Djokovic has now held the top ranking for 317 weeks.
The Serb has also not made any secret of the fact that he wants to break all records in men’s tennis before he hangs up the racquet.
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“Novak is more obsessed about this, more focused. Not in a negative way,” Nadal said during a virtual media interaction during the Monte Carlo Masters last week.
“No, he’s more focused on just these things and it means a lot to him all of this stuff. Like he’s always saying and talking about these records and well done for him… but it’s not my approach to my tennis career.”
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Nadal and Djokovic were both stunned at the clay court Masters in Monte Carlo. While Djokovic went down to Dan Evans in the third round, Nadal shockingly lost to emerging Russian Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals.
It is one of the events in the clay season that Nadal has owned over the years. The Spaniard has won 11 titles at the Monte Carlo Masters. He won a staggering 13th crown at the French Open, which was delayed to September, last year to go level with Federer for most majors.
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The 34-year-old said that though he isn’t obsessed with records he is ambitious when it comes to tennis.
“I have a healthy ambition. Of course, I am ambitious,” he added.
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“If not I would never be in the position I am today but I have probably a different kind of ambition than him (Djokovic), for example. I just keep going, keep doing what I’m doing, and just try to put myself in a position to keep enjoying the tour and, of course, try to achieve as much as possible.”
Nadal will compete at the ATP 500 event in Barcelona this week while Djokovic will feature in the Serbia Open ATP 250.
