Isn’t Carlos Alcaraz Novak Djokovic’s main rival at the moment? During his press conference after his victory in the round of 16 in Rio against Fabio Fognini (6-7, 6-2, 6-4), the world number 2 responded with humility by recalling the history between the Serb and Rafael Nadal.
“You have to understand that in the end, Nadal and Djokovic faced each other almost 60 times (Exactly 59 times: 30 wins for Nole, 29 for Rafa, editor’s note), many times in semi-finals and finals of Grand Slams, semi-finals and finals of Masters 1000. In my case, I only faced Novak once, I just arrived so to speak , although now I am fighting with him to be number one. That doesn’t mean I’m his biggest rival, they’ve shared the circuit for two decades, they’ve played legendary matches, so it’s okay to say that.”recalled the young Spaniard, who does not bury his eldest Rafa for the rest of the 2023 season, quite the contrary.
He will face Dusan Lajovic this Friday for a place in the last four of the Brazilian ATP 500.
Published on Friday, February 24, 2023 at 09:18
