Former Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic has claimed that Novak Djokovic presented a more formidable challenge than Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The greatest-of-all-time debate is still one that rages on to this day, with many still divided over the careers and accolades of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, often known as ‘the big three’.
The trio are the only players in men’s tennis history to collect over 20 major titles in their careers. The now-retired Federer finished on 20, Nadal, who called time on his career last November, notched up 22, and Djokovic has 24 and counting. Canadian star Raonic, 34, believes that while Nadal and Federer were tough to beat, the Serbian star possesses a rare ability to make his opponents doubt themselves.
“When you played with Roger, you knew what you had to do, but there were a lot of moments where it wasn’t up to you. This guy could make you look very, very bad,” Raonic told the Changeover podcast.
“He could play at a level that nobody else could match at times. He could make the experience of being on the court with him really unpleasant. But if you could keep up with him, the idea of what you had to do was much clearer.
“With Rafa, it wasn’t obvious whether you had the opportunity to win the match. Before you stepped on the court, you knew you were going to give it your all because he would be there until the last point.
“And then the unique thing with Novak was like, even watching other players play him a lot, you get in the rallies, you do all these things right, Novak does this thing where he plays down the middle a lot more than everybody else, but then just takes away angles from you.”
He continued: “You’ll lose to him [Djokovic] 7-6, 6-4, and you’ll be like, ‘Okay I felt good, I was hitting the ball well’ and what you’ll do is you’ll go watch the match and you’ll just look at it and be like, ‘I felt I was in it’ but rewinding it you’re like, ‘I really didn’t have any chances’.
“The strategy wasn’t clear when you played Novak. With the other two, it was clear what you needed to do, but with Novak, it was like, what do I need to do this time?”
Raonic’s head-to-head with all three seems to reinforce his comments. He has five wins in total, with three coming against Federer, and two against Nadal.
He has never won a match against Djokovic, with their head-to-head standing at 12-0 in favour of the 37-year-old icon. Raonic currently ranks No. 449; however, his highest ranking came when he reached No. 3 in 2016.
He reached the final of the All England Club in 2016, where he lost to Andy Murray, but he also fought his way to the semi-final of the Australian Open in 2016 and the quarter-final of the French Open in 2014.
Aside from a run to the semi-finals of the Australian Open, which included a victory against Carlos Alcaraz and some impressive results as he reached the Madrid Open final in March, Djokovic has struggled to find form this season and pulled out of the recent Italian Open, with no reason given.
However, when Roland Garros gets underway on May 25, he will aim to become the most successful tennis player of all time, with the star looking for his fourth title in Paris.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk