Tennis player Rafael Nadal has vowed to compete against Novak Djokovic in a “huge battle.”

Rafael Nadal has vowed to compete against Novak Djokovic

PARIS (Reuters) – Rafael Nadal acknowledges that it would be a “huge test” for him to defeat Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals of the French Open on Tuesday, but the 13-time champion has sworn that he will not back down from a confrontation against the current world number one.

Before losing to Djokovic in the semi-finals of the French Open last year, Rafael Nadal had won the tournament four years in a row, making it only the third time since his debut in 2005 that he has been defeated in a claycourt major tournament.

That was also the last of the 58 matches that the two have ever played against each other in their careers, and Djokovic has seemed to be in top form at this year’s event, as he has not lost a set in any of his four rounds.

When asked what he needed to do in order to win his next match against Djokovic, Rafael Nadal said, “I don’t know 100 percent, since I didn’t have a close test against him, because my last encounter against him was here last year.”

After prevailing in a nail-biting five-set battle against the ninth seed from Canada, Felix Auger-Aliassime, he said that “going to be a tremendous task for me” since it had been three months since he had played a match of this kind. It’s likely that he (Djokovic) will be feeling confident. I am aware of my circumstances, and I have come to terms with them. I’m going to put up a battle for it.”

Real Madrid supporter

Rafael Nadal is a well-known Real Madrid supporter, and on Saturday night, he had a memorable experience when he attended the Champions League final for the first time at the Stade de France in the north of Paris. There, he saw the Spanish team win their 14th European trophy. However, in order to go to bed at a reasonable hour, he decided against participating in the festivities that took place following the event. Both Nadal and Djokovic had quite different buildups before arriving in Paris for the claycourt major.

While the Serb seemed to be in excellent shape during his victory in Rome, Nadal struggled with a persistent foot issue and was eliminated from the Madrid quarter-finals by Carlos Alcaraz. He then faced Denis Shapovalov and was eliminated from the Rome Masters in the third round.

This coming Friday, Rafael Nadal will be 36 years old. “I can’t complain much,” he stated. I am now in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros. Before that, around two weeks and a half ago… I wasn’t even sure whether I would be able to make it here today.

To tell you the truth, I don’t know whether any of the matches I play here at Roland Garros will be the final ones of my professional tennis career. I play them all anyhow. That’s where I am at the moment.

“I am just trying to enjoy as much as possible and fight as much as I can to keep living the dream that is to keep playing tennis and be back in a very advanced round of Roland Garros, playing against the world number one. I am just trying to do it as much as I possibly can.”

“I want to be able to offer myself the opportunity to play at the best level possible, and after that, we’ll see what happens.”

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