A few hours before the debut at the
Masters 1000 in Indian Wells
,
Novak Djokovic
, the Serbian tennis player number 1 in the world, chatted with the press and paved the way to start thinking about his retirement when he highlighted
Rafael Nadal
's unfortunate decision to withdraw from the tournament in California.
"
When they really come and you understand that that's it,
Roger finished his career, Rafa and I probably aren't going to play much more
," said the world number one. In addition, he added that "it's
kind of the end of an era and It is sad, but at the same time, I think there are many wonderful moments, matches and milestones that we can celebrate when it comes to each of us and us as a group
,” in reference to the Big Three.
The list of the best tennis players in history includes emblems such as Nole, Rafa and Roger Federer.
The latter, who retired in 2022 at the age of 42, ranks third among the top Grand Slam winners, with 20;
being surpassed by the Serbian (24) and the Spanish (22).
It seems that the retirements will go step by step as time goes by and it will be a great change of era in international tennis.
Rafael Nadal wants to rediscover this sport, which has given him a lot of joy and has earned his name all over the world.
Unfortunately, his desire to reinvent himself is not positively accompanied by his body.
He was supposed to face Milos Raonic this Thursday at Indian Wells
, but his performance turned his back on him before the match.
😨 These serves from Rafa?
Hopefully it was just an extra careful start of warm-up.
Although he said that he wanted to play practice sets with players Monday-Wednesday, and so far he hasn't… pic.twitter.com/aypF8iHd4d
— Olly 🎾🇬🇧 (@Olly_Tennis_) March 6, 2024
"
It is sad for the tournament that Rafa had to withdraw and also for him.
In fact, I traveled with him to the United States, that was not planned
. It was nice to see him and his family
," he said.
Both had met on the plane that was taking them to American soil and the outlook seemed encouraging for the Spaniard who was on his way to film the special broadcast together with Carlos Alcaraz for Netflix.
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic coincided on a flight to the United States
In turn, the 36-year-old athlete was saddened by his rival's decision.
"
I know he arrived early because he really wanted to adapt to the time zone, practice as much as possible, prepare to play, that's why he arrived early. He gave his best, but it couldn't be
," he testified.
The 37-year-old Spaniard, who now occupies position 645 in the ATP rankings, had scheduled his year with the goal of participating in four tournaments.
Of them, he only had the time in Brisbane, where he fell in the quarterfinals.
Then he stumbled at the Australian Open in the second round.
Now, once his presence in California has been cancelled, he does not seem to be in the best condition to reach the next Olympic event that will take place at Roland Garros.
"
The preparation has been bad
," he said last week.
For his part, the Serbian is already with his mind on the game and will begin his participation in Indian Wells this Saturday, March 9;
In this way he will return to the courts after what was his last competition at the Australian Open, when he lost to Jannik Sinner in the semifinals.
Regarding his elimination, Novak recently expressed that he didn't have enough time to rest but that "
Sinner was a much better player than me
":