Djokovic–Nadal rivalry

2006

The first meeting between the two, which was the only one for this year, was at the French Open (Roland Garros) in the Quarterfinals. The victory went to Nadal in this match via a retirement from Djokovic after Nadal took the first two sets in fours in a matter of 114 minutes.

2007

In 2007, the pair met seven times, Nadal winning five of them.

The first encounter took place at the finals of the Indian Wells Masters. This was Djokovic's first Masters 1000 final whereas Nadal was bidding for his 6th. Nadal won the match. Djokovic however got his revenge the following week, defeating Nadal for the first time in the quarter-finals of the Miami Masters in just 97 minutes.

The pair met twice during the summer clay-court season, Nadal continuing his dominance on clay. He defeated Djokovic en route to the title in the quarter-finals of the Rome Masters and went on to do the same on his way to a third Grand Slam title, at the French Open a month later. Nadal defeated Djokovic, who was playing his first Grand Slam semi-final. They then met for the first time on grass, in the semi-finals of Wimbledon. After having split the first two sets, Djokovic was forced to concede the match to Nadal on a retirement.

At the Canada Masters in Montreal, Djokovic scored his second victory over Nadal, defeating the Spaniard in the semi's en route to winning his second Masters 1000 title.

The final encounter between the two during the year was in the round robin phase Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai.

2008

Djokovic and Nadal met six times in 2008, Nadal improving his career advantage against Djokovic to 10–4, winning four of their encounters.

Djokovic defeated Nadal in the semifinals at Indian Wells Masters in their first meeting in the year.

Nadal defeated Djokovic in the semis of the Hamburg Masters. In their third consecutive meeting at the French Open semi-finals, a dominant Nadal defeated Djokovic in the semis, going on to win his fourth consecutive French Open title.

Next they met in their second final at the Queen's Club in London, Nadal winning his first grass-court title at the expense of Djokovic in the finals in straight sets.

In their fifth encounter of the year at the Cincinnati Masters, Djokovic defeated Nadal in the semis.

The sixth and final battle of the year came at the Beijing Olympics in the semi-finals, Nadal winning the match. He would go on to win the gold medal.

2009

They met seven times in 2009. Nadal won the first four of their encounters, Djokovic going on to win the last three.

The pair met several times on clay and matches involving them became the highlights of the clay-court season. They met for the first time in a clay-court final at the Monte Carlo Masters, Nadal winning a closely contested three-setter and his 5th consecutive title at the event. With the no. 3 ranking at risk, Djokovic had to defend his title at the Rome Masters to avoid dropping to No. 4 in the world. He successfully made it to the final, but lost to Nadal in straight sets.

They then met for a third consecutive tournament on clay, in the semis of the Madrid Masters. Nadal won a gruelling encounter by saving three match points in the process. The match, at 4 hours and 3 minutes, was the longest three-set singles match on the ATP World Tour in the Open Era (later surpassed by the Olympic semifinal between Federer and Del Potro in 2012, which did not have a tiebreak in the third set). The match was voted the best match of the year by fans and critics alike. Djokovic admitted afterwards that it took him a long time to get over this loss.

During the US Open series, Djokovic defeated Nadal for the first time that year at the Cincinnati Masters in 92 minutes. Djokovic then won his first Masters 1000 title of the year, crushing Nadal in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open in Paris. The pair then had their final meeting of the year, at the ATP World Tour Finals in London. Djokovic won the match, going 2–1 in the round robin phase.

2010

They met only twice in 2010, and Nadal won both encounters.

Djokovic and Nadal faced off for the first time in a Grand Slam final at the US Open. Nadal won the match in four sets, thus becoming the youngest player in the Open Era to complete a Career Grand Slam. This match took 3 hours and 43 minutes to get finished.

Their second encounter came during the Round Robin stage of the ATP World Tour finals, where Nadal beat Djokovic in two sets.

2011

The pair met 6 times, all in finals, with Djokovic winning all six encounters, including two Grand Slam finals.

Coming into their first encounter of the year at the Indian Wells Masters, Djokovic had not lost a match the entire year, and continued his fine form by beating Nadal to win his second Indian Wells title.

Two weeks later, the pair met again in the finals of the Miami Masters with Djokovic winning two sets to one.

Djokovic and Nadal clashed twice during the clay-court spring. In the final of the Madrid Masters, Djokovic scored his first ever victory over Nadal on clay, in straight sets. He managed the same feat at the Rome Masters, defeating Nadal in straight sets.

Djokovic and Nadal met in a final for the fifth time in the year at Wimbledon, arguably their biggest encounter of the year. In a 2-hour 28 minute contest, Djokovic overcame Nadal in four sets, winning his first Wimbledon title.

They met for a second consecutive final at the US Open, a rematch of the final from the previous year, in which Nadal had prevailed. Djokovic won his third Grand Slam title of the year, overcoming Nadal again in four sets.

2012

The pair met 4 times, all in finals, with Nadal winning three of the four encounters and Djokovic winning only one, which was a Grand Slam final.

Djokovic won the 2012 Australian Open final after an epic five-set battle vs. Nadal. The match lasted 5 hours 53 minutes, the record for the longest match in a Grand Slam final in the open era. At the end of the match, both players were so exhausted they could not stand for the trophy presentation. Nadal called it "the greatest loss in his career" and "the best match he ever played". Djokovic also commented on the match, saying this was a moment he would never forget, and considered it a career-defining victory for himself.

Djokovic and Nadal met again in the 2012 Monte–Carlo Masters 1000 final. This time, Nadal won his eighth consecutive title after defeating Djokovic in two sets. It was the first time since November 2010 that Nadal had beaten Djokovic. They had met in seven finals from January 2011 to January 2012, all of which Djokovic won.

The pair met again in the 2012 Rome Masters final at the Foro Italico where Nadal defeated Djokovic in straight sets and regained the trophy he has won 5 times before. Djokovic was the defending champion

The fourth battle of the year came at the 2012 French Open final. For the second time in tennis history, two opposing tennis players played four consecutive Grand Slams finals against each other. This was a match of historic proportions as either Nadal would have broken Björn Borg's record of six titles at the French Open or Djokovic would have become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win four Grand Slams in a row. Nadal eventually emerged victorious after 3 consecutive losses in Grand Slam finals, prevailing in 4 sets after multiple rain delays that forced the final to be concluded on the following Monday afternoon. With this victory, Nadal became the most successful tennis player at the French Open, winning seven French Open titles.

2013

The couple met 6 times, with three victories for each one.

Djokovic and Nadal contested the Monte Carlo final for a third time, but this was their first meeting since last year's French Open final, and this was the twelfth time in the last thirteen occasions in which they met in the championship match. Nadal failed to win his 9th title after Djokovic defeated him in straight sets.

At the 2013 French Open Nadal came in as seven time champion and was drawn in the same half as Djokovic, made possible by his 3rd seed. Nadal won the 2013 French Open after beating Djokovic in the semifinal and Ferrer in the final. His semi-final clash with Djokovic was widely considered one of the greatest clay court matches ever played, and Nadal was 2 points away from victory in the 4th set but was denied by Djokovic and taken to a fifth set where he went down a break 4–2 only to break back and ultimately triumph 9–7 and take out a hard-fought 4-hour, 37-minute victory.

It was a unique encounter in that it was almost the mirror opposite of the epic 2012 Australian Open Final they contested where Djokovic was leading Nadal 2–1 sets and was 2 points away from victory in the 4th set only for Nadal to come back and win the 4th set in a tiebreaker and go up a break in the 5th set. In exactly the same fashion the player leading by a break in the 5th set committed a hauntingly uncharacteristic error (Nadal missed an easy backhand pass at 30–15, 4–2 in the fifth in Melbourne, while Djokovic ran into the net after hitting a what would have been a clean winner at 4–3 in the fifth in Paris) only to spark a momentum shift for their opponent to break back and ultimately win the match – Djokovic broke back to win the Australian Open 2012 Final 7–5, while Nadal broke back to win the French Open 2013 semi-final 9–7. Nadal suggested that it was almost "poetic justice" that he won this match after losing their brutally epic encounter in Australia.

This was only the second time Nadal had been pushed to five sets at the French Open in 9 years (The first being against John Isner in the 1st round of the 2011 French Open) and he remains unbeaten in 5-set encounters on clay.

Djokovic and Nadal met again at the Montreal Masters 1000 semifinals, with Nadal prevailing in three sets. Nadal would then go on to win the Rogers Cup, marking his 25th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title. The US Open final saw a third Nadal-Djokovic matchup, which Nadal took in four sets. While not of the highest quality, the match showed Nadal's fighting spirit, as he clawed down from 0–2 at a set apiece, and from 4–4, 0–40 on his own serve. He would take the title to beat Djokovic for the sixth time out of seven meetings.

The two tennis players faced again in the China Open final with Djokovic winning in straight sets; however, by reaching the final, Nadal took the world #1 ranking away from Djokovic. They met again in the finals of the ATP World Tour Finals, where Djokovic again won in straight sets, winning his third year-end championship, and denying Nadal his first. Nadal finished 2013 as world #1, with Djokovic as world #2, having won 24 consecutive matches after losing the US Open final to Nadal. Their domination in 2013 was also apparent in the year end rankings: together, they amassed 25,290 points, more than the numbers 3 to 7 combined.

2014

In 2014, the pair met three times, all in finals, with Djokovic winning the first two encounters, and Nadal winning the last one. Djokovic started off by beating Nadal in the final of the Sony Ericsson open in straight sets, and then supplanted that victory with a three-set victory over Nadal in Rome. In the process he acquired a 4-match winning streak against the Spaniard, and also the first player to have amassed 4 clay-court wins over Nadal. Their final meeting of the year came at the French open, where Nadal went on to win the match after dropping the opening set to Djokovic.

2015

In 2015, the pair contested four matches with Djokovic winning all four. They met at the semi-final stage of the Monte Carlo Masters Series event. The match was competitive in parts with Nadal producing, by his own assessment, his best performance yet of the season. However, a very in-form Djokovic prevailed. They faced each other at the quarterfinal stage of the French Open where Djokovic beat Nadal in straight sets. It was Djokovic's first victory against the Spaniard in seven meetings at the tournament, Djokovic also broke the record for most sets won against Nadal at the French Open (7), became the only man to ever beat Nadal at all four of the Grand Slam tournaments, became the first man to beat Nadal in straight sets in a best of five format match on clay, and also the only man to beat Nadal on clay 6 times. This was also only the second time that Nadal has been defeated at the French Open, after losing to Robin Soderling in the 2009 edition of the tournament. Nadal is now 70–2 at the French Open, and a 92–2 record for best-of-five set matches on clay. Nadal played Djokovic in the Beijing final, where he was comprehensively beaten by the Serb. They met again in the semifinal of ATP World Tour Finals in London which Djokovic won in two sets and leveled his head-to head with Nadal for the first time at 23–23.

2016

In 2016, the pair has met three times with all three matches going to Djokovic. In the Doha final Djokovic won in a convincing straight set victory bringing him into the head-to-head lead for the first time. Djokovic won again the semifinal at Indian Wells and at the quarterfinal stage of the Rome Masters putting the rivalry at 26-23 in Djokovic's favour with a 7 match winning streak against Nadal.

Famous matches

2009 Madrid Masters Semifinal

With Nadal widely regarded as invincible on clay courts by many in the tennis world, Djokovic emerged as one of the few who could test his dominance on it, and the closest Nadal came to losing for the first time in this tournament came in May 2009. It was the longest Masters match and semi final in Open Era history. Djokovic, ranked No. 4 in the world, took the first set 6–3. But the world No. 1 Nadal remained resilient, saving three match points and eventually ending up winning in three sets after four hours and two minutes in what he called one of his greatest wins in his career.

2010 US Open Final

Nadal needed this title to complete his Golden Career Slam, creating much hype before the tournament. Even more so when he would have to face Djokovic who had an excellent record on this surface. Nadal had perfected his serve to the point where it became his most dangerous weapon. He ended up winning the match and becoming the third man in the Open Era (after Andre Agassi and Roger Federer) to complete a Career Grand Slam and the second man in the open era to complete a Career Golden Slam after Andre Agassi.

2011 Wimbledon Final

The 2011 Wimbledon final would put the world No. 1 ranked and defending champion Nadal against the No. 2 ranked Djokovic who was looking for his first Wimbledon title. Nadal, on a 20-match winning streak at the All England Club, was favored by many to win despite Djokovic coming into the match with four finals victories over Nadal during year. However, with a four set victory, Djokovic became the first Serbian man to win Wimbledon and for the first time overtook Nadal for the No. 1 ranking.

2011 US Open Final

The 2011 US Open final had Nadal as the defending champion after defeating Djokovic the prior year but with Djokovic having defeated Nadal in five finals including a victory over Nadal at Wimbledon finals earlier in the year, expectations were high on Djokovic to win his first US Open title. In a match lasting 4 hours and 10 minutes, Djokovic defeated Nadal for a sixth consecutive finals victory over Nadal. With the win, Djokovic became the sixth man in the open era to win three of the four majors in the same year.

2012 Australian Open Final

This match was the third straight Djokovic vs Nadal major final. It was the longest Grand Slam final in history with Djokovic prevailing 7–5 in the fifth set in 5 hours 53 minutes. Both players were exhausted to the extent that chairs had to be brought out during presentation. The momentum switched several times throughout the match, at one stage Djokovic being only two points from winning the fourth set and thus the championship. However, Nadal managed to force a deciding set. He went up a break in the fifth set, but the turning point was when he missed a backhand winner at the net at 4–2 30–15, and lost his chance to consolidate his break. Tennis legends Mats Wilander, Björn Borg, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, and Stefan Edberg have all responded saying this was the greatest match of all time. The amount of social media chatter on Facebook and Twitter on the match was never seen before in tennis. Many congratulated both players for playing the greatest match ever witnessed, and news media also commented on the insurmountable quality of the match itself. With the win, Djokovic brought his win streak against Nadal to seven, all of which were in finals and 3 being grand slam finals.

2012 French Open Final

This match was the fourth straight Djokovic vs Nadal major final. Rafael Nadal won the first set 6–4, Nadal gaining a break of serve after a long attritional battle. There were several delays due to the erratic rain, but none lasting more than an hour. With Nadal leading by two sets to one, and Djokovic leading 2–1 and serving (up a break) in the fourth set, the match was suspended due to rain; it was initially thought that Djokovic had gained the momentum, having won eight games in a row prior to the suspension of the match, however, Nadal was able to regroup and take the fourth set, and ultimately the match, after Djokovic double-faulted on championship point down.

2013 French Open Semifinal

Björn Borg dubbed it the greatest clay court match ever. John McEnroe called it one of the top 5 matches of all time. Both players produced incredible tennis in what was a mirror image of the 2012 Australian Open Final. The match had momentum swings throughout the entire affair but the most important occurred late in the fifth set when Djokovic, up a break, touched the net on a winner that would have put him in position to serve for the match, losing the point. He never recovered mentally from this mistake and Nadal saved the break and immediately broke back, eventually winning the final set.

2015 French Open Quarterfinal

Djokovic defeated Nadal ending a 39 match winning streak at the tournament in straight sets. After a highly competitive first set, Nadal's level declined in the second and third allowing Djokovic to finally get the better of him at the tournament he had dominated for the last ten years. It was the second time Nadal lost in the French Open and the only time he lost in straight sets at the event. Djokovic eventually lost in the final to Stan Wawrinka.

Analysis

Commentators Dick Enberg, John McEnroe, and Mary Carillo have said that this rivalry has the potential of being the greatest rivalry in tennis history due to the number of matches already played between the two, the quality of the matches, and the age difference of only one year.

Djokovic is the player with most career wins against Nadal. Nadal is also the player with most career wins against Djokovic. Djokovic is the only player to have defeated Nadal in 4 clay court finals, the only player to defeat Nadal at the French Open in straight sets, and the only player to defeat Nadal in 7 consecutive finals. Both play a similar style of tennis but have differences that make their matches competitive and unique. Djokovic is the only player to defeat Nadal in three consecutive grand slam finals and the only player to defeat Nadal in all four grand slams (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open). Consequently, Nadal is the only player to defeat Djokovic in two hard court slam finals (US Open 2010 and US Open 2013).

The rivalry has seen dominance shift back and forth, with Nadal dominant early on, followed by Djokovic beating Nadal seven times in a row, then Nadal winning six out of seven, and Djokovic winning four straight matches prior to Nadal's win in the 2014 French Open final and now Djokovic winning seven matches consecutively in 2015 and 2016 .

Many pundits have claimed this to be the greatest rivalry of the Open Era given the amount of records it has produced, the quality of their matches, it has the most encounters in history, and the amount of classic matches it has produced that are unrivaled by any other. In 2009, it was rated the 3rd best rivalry of the last decade even though it only began in 2006.

Comparison of Grand Slam tournament titles

As of 2016, Novak Djokovic has won 12 Grand Slam tournament titles for third place the open era and has won the career grand slam by winning all four majors at least once. In the 2015 - 2016 tennis season, Djokovic also won 4 consecutive Grand Slam titles, a feat not achieved since 1969. In addition, Djokovic is the only player to hold all four Grand Slam titles at once on three different surfaces. Djokovic's Grand Slam tournament titles includes 8 on hard courts, 3 on grass, and 1 on clay. Nadal has won 14 Grand Slam tournament titles and is second on the all-time list tied with Pete Sampras and in total has 9 on clay, 3 on hard courts, and 2 on grass. Both also won the career grand slam and Nadal is the youngest player in the Open Era to achieve this feat, aged 24. This is the second rivalry after Federer-Nadal where two players have won at least ten majors.

Comparison of Masters 1000 titles

As of 2016, Djokovic has the all-time record for the most Masters 1000 titles with 30. Novak Djokovic has won 22 on hard courts and 8 on clay. Nadal won 20 on clay and 8 on hard courts. Djokovic is missing only Cincinnati while Nadal is missing three Masters 1000 titles (Miami, Paris, and Shanghai), having won the German Open Hamburg before it was downgraded to ATP 500 in 2009 and replaced by the Shanghai Masters.

Comparison of Year–End Championships

As of 2016, Novak Djokovic has won five Year–End Championships while Nadal has not won the event but has made the finals twice, in 2010 and 2013. Djokovic holds a 3–2 lead over Nadal at the event and won their lone meeting in the championship finals 6–3, 6–4 in 2013. Djokovic is second (tied with Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl) behind Roger Federer's 6 Year-End Championships, but holds the record in ATP World Tour Finals won with 4.

Head-to-head tallies

Results on each court surface

List of all matches

ATP, Davis Cup, and Grand Slam tournament main draw results included.

Singles

Djokovic–Nadal (26–23)

Doubles

Djokovic–Nadal (0–2)

Historic Achievements

Exhibition matches

In Bogota on March 21, 2011, Nadal beat Djokovic in their first exhibition match and the highest caliber match ever played in Colombia. A second exhibition, with proceeds to benefit a foundation run by Nadal and the soccer team Real Madrid, was scheduled for July 14, 2012 in Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, but cancelled because of injury to Nadal.

Career evolution

Grand Slam tournaments