The tennis rivalry between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal is considered the greatest in the history of the sport. That’s how it is.Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on their respective favourite surfaces, grass and clay 'The negative thing it’s difficult because you play against one of the best players of the history. 'That’s something that is good because in some way we are practising, we are living the sport for these moments. 'It’s a match that you know what you have to do if you really want to have chances to success and to keep going on the tournament.

The 35-year-old added: 'The best thing is you know that you need to play your best tennis. Meanwhile, Nadal has suggested that he has to raise his game against Djokovic, despite being one of the best-ever players on clay. I'll probably pick Rafa as the biggest rival I've ever had in my career.' ' rivalries with him and Roger have made me a stronger player, allowed me to understand how I need to improve my game to get to the level where they were when I started playing professional tennis. I've been privileged to play him so many times. But that's why our rivalry has been historic, I think, for this sport. vibes are different walking on the court with him. 'Of course, each time we face each other, there's that extra tension and expectations. Let's face it, it's the biggest challenge that you can have - playing on clay against Nadal, on this court on which he has had so much success in his career, in the final stages of a Grand Slam. We'll have coverage of Djokovic vs Nadal shortly.Īhead of the semi-final, Djokovic has talked about the unique element of his matches against Nadal. The German raged at the umpire towards the end of that set, seemingly over the way a shot had been played. Tsitsipas was leading two sets to love but Zverev has just taken the third set.

The Spaniard has a good recent record against his opponent, winning their last five matches on clay.īoth players are expected on Philippe-Chatrier from 4:30pm but must wait for the other semi-final between Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas to finish. Nadal is hoping to reach his 14th final at Roland Garros but will need to be the in-form world No 1 Djokovic. Hello and welcome to Express Sport's LIVE coverage of the French Open semi-final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

Nadal score