Tennis

Paris [France]: The 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic reflected on the challenges he faced while playing against the 14-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal and hailed the tennis great Spaniard as his "greatest-ever rival." The Serbian has faced the Spaniard 59 times, which is 19 more than Nadal and Roger Federer combined. Djokovic heaped accolades on Nadal and the Serbian believes that one of the most challenging aspects of winning Roland Garros was having to face the 'King of Clay' Nadal. Djokovic, the top seed in Paris for the next two weeks, is hoping for his fourth major title. Though three Grand Slam titles are nothing to scoff at, there has been one man who has consistently stood in Djokovic's way at Roland Garros, where Nadal has an 8-2 record versus Djokovic, including three final wins. "He has been the greatest rival that I ever had. Matches against him on clay have frustrated me so much in my career. But they also made me a better player, made me understand what it takes to try to surpass him, try to win at least once or twice at Roland Garros," Djokovic said as quoted by ATP. "It's the highest mountain to climb for me to win Roland Garros, particularly because of Nadal, because I always have to win against him in order to get to the title," he added. Djokovic will not have to face Nadal if he wants to win a record-breaking 25th major title this week. The Spaniard, who was making his likely final Roland Garros debut, lost a first-round thriller against fourth seed Alexander Zverev. While this may be a comfort for the World No. 1 in the ATP Rankings, fans will lose out on another instalment of one of the sport's greatest rivalries, even if a prospective encounter would not have occurred until the semi-finals. "I th ...