Novak Djokovic fans recalled Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s reactions after their disappointing loss to Novak Djokovic in the 2011 US Open and the 2020 ATP Cup respectively.
Roger Federer lost the semifinal clash against Novak Djokovic at the US Open in 2011. The 2011 semifinal was a thrilling match that lasted for three hours and 51 minutes. Federer was in the lead winning the first two sets, but the Serbian made a comeback winning the next two sets and pushing the match to the decider. He eventually won the match 6-7, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5.
In the post-match conference, a frustrated Federer called Djokovic’s forehand winner a ‘lucky shot’.
“Disappointing, because you feel like he was mentally out of it already. Just gets the lucky shot at the end, and off you go……Confidence? Are you kidding me? For me, this is very hard to understand. How can you play a shot like that on match point? Maybe, he’s doing it for 20 years, so for him it was very normal.”
– Roger Federer in the post match interview
A tennis fan recalled this incident and took to X, tweeting that not everyone can be gracious in defeat like Djokovic.
Roger federer press conference after the loss to Novak Djokovic at US Open 2011 and Rafael Nadal press conference after the loss to Novak Djokovic at ATP Cup 2020
— Shane Gupta (@Shanegupta22) November 28, 2023
Not everyone can be gracious in defeat like Novak Djokovic 🙌 https://t.co/84Hw9CxKIr pic.twitter.com/3U8V7AVAJk
A somewhat similar and unexpected reaction was received from Rafael Nadal after he lost to Djokovic in the 2020 ATP Cup.
Serbia won the inaugural edition of the ATP Cup in 2020 defeating Spain in the finals. Nadal played the second match of their tie after Roberto Bautista Agut won the first match against Dusan Lajovic.
But, he faced a straight-set loss to the Serbian and made the tie even. As Nadal pulled out of the doubles match it became easy for Djokovic to take Serbia to victory.
In the post-match press conference, a disappointed Nadal took a dig at the crowd for the atmosphere.
“Honestly, the crowd was fantastic every single day but sometimes people from some countries, they probably don’t understand how the tennis goes….They think it’s about football or this stuff and atmosphere in tennis is different…..The respect for the players should be there, and at some point I think the respect with small part of the crowd have not been there.”
– Rafael Nadal in post match interview at ATP Cup
Some ‘Fedal’ fans support Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s comments after their loss to Novak Djokovic
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s harsh comments in the video shared on X received mixed reactions. But ‘Fedal’ fans were there to show their support and justified their comments.
Roger Federer made the comment in the post-match conference after he faced a disappointing loss to Novak Djokovic in the semifinal of the 2011 US Open and Rafael Nadal’s comments came following the 2020 ATP Cup when Serbia defeated Spain in the finals.
It was a rare sight to see Federer and Nadal criticizing strongly against their opponents. And so their fans came rushing into the comments section to defend their champs.
Djokovic was not that 'gracious' when losing to the other two back then either. In fact, all the three are equally sour losers, that's in fact one of the key to their success, they simply hate to lose. Not that bad, at all.
— Thorfinnur (@thorfinnur) November 28, 2023
Not sure what this says other than superstar tennis players are competitive and hate to lose. Federer has credited Djokovic all the time for beating records left and right. They're all in rare air and Djokovic is now best in history after Federer, Nadal set thr new standard.
— AMiller (@milleropoulos) November 28, 2023
hey Shane, how many racquets have Rafa and/or Roger ANNIHILATED on center court at the All England Club during a final? less than Djokovic, that's for sure. That Serb has no class
— wyatt (@BananaZach2) November 28, 2023
