Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic became better players because of Rafael Nadal, says Andy Roddick

Andy Roddick has stated that Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic became better players because of the influence of Rafael Nadal. While Djokovic is still active on the ATP Tour, both Federer and Nadal have retired from the sport.

Djokovic, Federer, and Nadal are regarded as three of the greatest tennis players of all time. The Serb has 24 Grand Slam singles titles under his belt, the Spaniard bid farewell to the sport with 22 major titles to his name, and Federer retired with 20 Grand Slam singles titles. All three players also won Olympic gold medals and were ranked World No. 1 in the ATP rankings.

On a recent episode of the "Served with Andy Roddick" podcast, Roddick stated that he was fortunate enough to watch and play against Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, whom he labeled "geniuses" who had "otherworldly talent."

“It was an absolute pleasure of a lifetime to have a front row seat to see these geniuses. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. When you have both, f*** you Magoo to everybody else because when you get this otherworldly talent that we’ve seen, that we’ve been spoiled by that, we’ve frankly become entitled to,” Roddick said [29:59].

The former US Open champion stated that Federer and Djokovic owe their success in part to the challenges posed by the Spaniard.

“Rafa, a massive part of that. Roger is better for having Rafa. Novak would not be the player that he is without having to solve for Rafa. If he never had to solve for Rafa we wouldn’t know that there was a better version of Novak out there. We wouldn’t know it but there would be,” he added [30:18].

According to Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal's unique playing style presented a "impossible puzzle" to Federer and Djokovic, which forced them to elevate their game in order to compete.

“These guys, the reason they were so great is because they would look across the net and see parts of themselves across the net and know that they had to get better. Rafa was a massive part about that. He created a hell of an impossible puzzle for a long time and did it in simply a decent way all the time,” Andy Roddick said [30:35].

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Andy Roddick about Rafael Nadal: "An absolute gentleman"

Andy Roddick (L) & Rafael Nada (R) in 2010 [Image Source: Getty Images]

During the aforementioned podcast, Andy Roddick also praised Rafael Nadal as an "absolute gentleman." He shared that the Spaniard always took the time to stop and greet others, even on his bad days.

Roddick expressed that if his children, son Hank and daughter Stevie, ever emulated anything that the 22-time Grand Slam champion did, he would feel immense pride.

"An absolute gentleman. If my kids ever try to imitate anything that Rafael Nadal did, I would be beaming with pride. The way he went about it, the way he treated people, the way he had time for everyone. In his bad mood, he will still look you in the eye and say, 'Hello!' and that's before we even get to what he did on court," Roddick said (at 24:00).

The Spaniard recently bid farewell to tennis. He played the final match of his career at the 2024 Davis Cup Finals.