"Rafael Nadal shouldn't speak for Novak Djokovic" - Spaniard's comments on Slam race could have been tweaked a little, says tennis analyst

Tennis analyst Gill Gross has expressed his views on Rafael Nadal's comments about Novak Djokovic and the Grand Slam title race.

Gross started by referring to his comments on the podcast, 'Monday Match Analysis'. He clarified that they were pertaining to the 14-time French Open champion's interview with Spanish publication AS, where Nadal concurred that Djokovic was the greatest title-winning player in tennis history.

He later realized that tennis fans had actually asked him about the Spaniard comments from his interview with Moviestar, where he stated that the Serbian lived a more frustrated life owing to his intensity, which was also a reason for him being the best player in the sport right now.

"I am not frustruated for a simple reason. I believe that, within my means, I have done everything possible to ensure that things go as smoothly as possible for me. Novak could be frustrated because he lives everything more intensly and that's why he's the best," Nadal told Moviestar.

Addressing Nadal's comments, Gross opined that while the 22-time Grand Slam champion's contention with his achievements was valid, he could have avoided the latter part of his statement.

"The [latter] part should have been left out because he really shouldn't speak for Novak. That's something that Novak can communicate himself and maybe that's true, maybe that's not, but it's not really Rafa's place to say, 'this is how Novak would feel had that happened', right?" he said.

He added that even though Nadal's comments may not have gone down well with some, they were not necessarily 'insulting'.

"I think some of the emotions involved and the toxicity involved when people talked about this quote was pretty unneccesary considering the fact that if what Rafa said about Novak were true, it wouldn't be a big deal. Honestly, it shouldn't be taken as an insult or a shock whatsoever. Goal oriented motivation is not inferior in any way to process oriented motivation," he added.

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Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal congratulate Team Europe on Ryder Cup victory

Novak Djokovic at the 2023 Ryder Cup Golf

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal took to social media to congratulate Rory McIlroy's Team Europe on their victory over Team USA on Sunday, October 1.

Team Europe came through with Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland winning their respective singles matches. Jon Rahm tied with Scottie Scheffler to seal victory as Tommy Fleetwood later scored the winning point to extend Team USA's wait for victory away from home since 1993.

The two tennis icons used emojis to cheer and applaud Team Europe.

Screengrab from Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic's Instagram posts

Meanwhile, Djokovic will be missing the Asian swing on the tennis tour. He withdrew from the ongoing China Open and also the upcoming Shanghai Masters.