Djokovic–Nadal rivalry

The Djokovic–Nadal rivalry is between tennis players Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, who are engaged in a modern-day tennis rivalry. The rivalry is the most prolific of the Open Era. The two have faced each other 49 times with Djokovic leading 26–23. Between 2006–2010, this rivalry was often overshadowed by the historic Federer–Nadal rivalry, but it started to become widely recognized after they played their first Grand Slam final against each other at the 2010 US Open. The first half of the rivalry was dominated by Nadal (who led 16–7 after the 2010 season) while the second half has been dominated by Djokovic, winning 11 out the last 12 matches. It is widely considered to be one of the greatest rivalries in tennis history. It was the first rivalry to involve meetings at all 4 Grand Slam finals (including four consecutive Grand Slam finals) and a record 24 Masters Series matches. Their 2012 Australian Open final is considered to be one of the greatest matches of all time, and Mary Carillo and John McEnroe both commented that that Australian Open match and the 2013 French Open semi-final match were the two best matches played on hard and clay courts respectively. The Djokovic–Nadal rivalry was listed as the third greatest rivalry in the last decade in 2009 by ATPworldtour.com despite its only starting in 2006.

The first ever meeting between the two occurred at the 2006 French Open in the quarterfinals, where Nadal prevailed after Djokovic was forced to retire with an injury in the third set. This match initiated the rivalry, with Djokovic later commenting to the media that he understood what he needed to do to beat Nadal and claiming Nadal "was beatable on clay". Their first final appearance came at the 2007 Indian Wells Masters tournament, where Nadal won the event, and this was just the second time they had met on the ATP Tour. Djokovic's first win was in the quarterfinals of the 2007 Miami Masters in their third meeting. From March 2011 to April 2013, the pair contested eleven consecutive meetings in the championship match, the only duo to ever achieve such a feat in the open era.

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