Vote: Nadal before Messi, Federer and Djokovic
In a vote among the readers of the Spanish newspaper Marca , Rafael Nadal was chosen as the “athlete of the decade”.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Dec 30, 2019, 05:49 pm
The Spaniards and tennis - that seems to be a really big love story. The Marca had called last week to vote on the greatest male athlete of the past decade. And three of the four semi-finalists were recruited from the tennis scene - not surprisingly, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer had good cards until the end of the survey. It is a little surprising that a man like Marc Marquez, who dominates the Moto GP like no one before him, did not make it into the top four.
Local hero Nadal finally made it to the final round, perhaps under the impression of the just-won Davis Cup success with the Furia Roja. Nadal prevailed in the readers' favor in a direct duel against Federer, while Lionel Messi prevailed against Djokovic in the second semi-final. The final vote brought a clear success for the man from Manacor against the Argentine magic foot - Rafael Nadal got 62 percent of the votes cast, Messi only 38. Probably a double joy for the avowed Real Madrid fan. According to the Marca, around 160,000 readers cast their vote.
Hardly any matches between Nadal, Federer and Djokovic
The duels of the Big Three on the court have become rarer - only twice did Nadal, Federer and Djokovic meet in 2019. The two world rankings leaders crossed their clubs at the beginning of the year in the final of the Australian Open (with a clear win from Novak Djokovic), Nadal retaliated in the final of Rome. With Federer, Nadal had two semifinal meetings in majors: the Spaniard won in Roland Garros, the Swiss won in Wimbledon.
Where Federer is known to have defeated Novak Djokovic in an epic endgame. After all, the 38-year-old was able to defeat his Serbian opponent again for the first time since 2015 at the ATP Finals in London.