Champion Spaniard Rafael Nadal has opened up on his relationship with Novak Djokovic after dominating his first-round Australian Open match, saying he has “a big respect” for all rivals and the world No.1 is “not an exception”.
Nadal thrashed American Marcos Giron 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 at Rod Laver Arena to set up a round-two clash with German Yannick Hanfmann, before fielding questions about the match and Djokovic.
Nadal admitted he was “tired” of the Djokovic legal saga, labelled it a “terrible situation” and said he no longer wanted to talk about it.
LIVE UPDATES: Tennis great’s emotional tribute to winning Barty
READ MORE: England greats line up to take shots at players over humiliation
READ MORE: Cummins’ classy Khawaja gesture during celebrations
But the 20-time grand slam singles champion didn’t stop short of commenting on his relationship with Djokovic, who was deported from Australia after a federal court upheld his visa cancellation.
“I (have) always had a big respect and a very good relationship with my rivals. In my opinion, I believe the life is much better when you have a good relationship with everybody, especially in the locker room,” Nadal said.
“That was like this during all my tennis career, with some very casual exceptions for some moments. That’s my philosophy; it’s better to have a good relationship with everybody because then you are happier.
“With Novak he’s not an exception; we (have) always had a great relationship.”
This is the first time that Nadal is the only member of the ‘big three’ – himself, Djokovic and Roger Federer – competing in a singles major.
Nadal is chasing his first Australian Open silverware since 2009 as well as a record-breaking 21st singles grand slam title.
“Honestly, I wish him all the best,” Nadal said of Djokovic.
“I think the situation has been a mess. He’s not the only one that did probably the things bad in that case. Of course, there is more responsible (in) all this terrible situation that we faced for the last two weeks. But of course he is one of the responsible, too.
“(On) a personal level, yes, I would like to see him playing here.
“If it’s fair or not that he’s playing here is another discussion that I don’t want to talk anymore about.”
Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev are among Nadal’s chief threats in his pursuit of Australian Open glory.
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!