Novak Djokovic on potential friendship with Rafael Nadal: "I hope that after our careers, we can have a drink on the beach"

Novak Djokovic recently expressed his wish to have an amicable bond with Rafael Nadal in their retired lives.

Djokovic is currently in Paris, France, for the 2023 Paris Masters. He is scheduled to start his campaign on Wednesday, November 1, after receiving a bye in the first round. He has won the ATP Masters 1000 event a record six times already.

The Serb recently participated in a conversation with French media house C a vous and reflected on the relationship between Nadal and himself.

"Rafael Nadal is a very special player for me, he's not really my friend but we have respect for each other. I hope that after our career, we can have a drink on the beach, talk about life," he said. (translated)

The duo have given the tennis world a rivalry for the ages, exchanging forehands and backhands on 59 occasions. The Serb currently enjoys a small edge in the head-to-head record with 30 wins against the Spaniard's 29.

Nadal, however, holds the edge in the Grand Slam record against the 36-year-old, with an 11-7 head-to-head account in his favor. Out of the 11, eight have come at Roland Garros, two at Flushing Meadows and one at Wimbledon.

For much of the 2023 season, the Spaniard has been nursing the hip injury that he sustained at the Australian Open in January. In Nadal's absence, Djokovic has gone past him in the all-time Grand Slam winners' tally.

After bagging the French Open in June, the World No. 1 added a 24th Major to his trophy cabinet at the US Open in September. Nadal, who has 22 Slams to his name, is planning to make a comeback in the 2024 season.

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"Novak Djokovic has better numbers than mine and that is indisputable" - Rafael Nadal

2023 Australian Open - Day 3

Rafael Nadal recently acknowledged that Novak Djokovic's numbers inarguably put him above everyone, including himself.

“I believe that numbers are numbers and statistics are statistics. In that sense, I think he [Djokovic] has better numbers than mine and that is indisputable,” Nadal said in September. (via AS)

The Spaniard admitted:

"[There] are tastes, inspiration, sensations that one or the other may transmit to you, that you may like one or the other more. I think that with respect to titles, Novak is the best in history and there is nothing to discuss about that."

Djokovic is the only player to have won 24 Grand Slam titles in the Open Era.