Rafael Nadal leads Novak Djokovic on the clay event, while Serbian admits playing a clay court finals without Spaniard is a peculiar feeling. Meanwhile, the top-seeded Djokovic qualified finals of the Italian Open for the tenth time in his career.
The Djokovic-Nadal rivalry is most prolific in the open era. The two greatest tennis players of all time possess a nearly equal record in head to head. Even though Djokovic is playing great at this moment, he expects a tight match against Nadal at the Italian Open 2020 finals. But, Spaniard was eliminated from the tournament before meeting the semifinals.
Nole said ahead of the final at Rome, “Of course, you know, with Nadal in the finals and without Nadal in the finals makes a big difference. Most of the finals that I reached in the big events on clay I played against Rafa.”
Djokovic levels Nadal in the Master’s title(35) after the finals win at the Western and Southern Open last month. Additionally, he has now overcome the Spaniard in the most ATP Masters finals(52) appearance follows by the Italian Open 2020 finals qualification.
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“I Won’t Underestimate Anybody”- Djokovic
Djokovic will now play second consecutive finals at the Italian Open on Monday. Serb will face Diego Schwartzman, who upset Nadal in the quarterfinals of the event. Argentine made his first Masters final after defeating Canadian Denis Shapovalov in the three sets.
World number one went on to say about his finals encounter with Schwartzman, “So it’s going to be strange not facing him(Nadal), but at the same time, I mean, Diego deservedly reached the final.”
“I won’t underestimate anybody that steps on the court against me tomorrow.”, the 33-years-old Serbian concluded.