{"id":463223,"date":"2026-02-12T01:07:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T01:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/463223\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T01:07:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T01:07:12","slug":"rafael-nadal-calls-out-wrong-opinion-over-novak-djokovic-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/463223\/","title":{"rendered":"Rafael Nadal calls out ‘wrong’ opinion over Novak Djokovic ‘controversy’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rafael Nadal has labelled Patrick Mouratoglou\u2019s contentions analysis after Novak Djokovic\u2019s Australian Open victory over Jannik Sinner as \u201cwrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Djokovic<\/a> delivered a sensational display to defeat Sinner in a captivating five-set semi-final at the Melbourne Grand Slam after trailing by two sets to one.<\/p>\n

At the age of 38, Djokovic became the oldest player to reach an Australian Open final. The Serbian was denied a record-extending 25th Grand Slam crown as he lost to world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz in four sets in the title match.<\/p>\n

Mouratoglou \u2014 who coached Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka \u2014 is never shy of expressing his opinion, and he drew controversy with his take on Djokovic beating Sinner.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those who think that Djokovic beating Sinner in the semi-final of the Australian Open means that the Big Three (Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer) is playing better tennis than Alcaraz and Sinner \u2014 this is a very short view,\u201d the Frenchman said in a video posted on his social media accounts.<\/p>\n

\u201cNovak is not a better tennis player than Sinner, but he\u2019s the biggest competitor in the history and he was better than Jannik Sinner on that match.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nadal<\/a> competed with Djokovic and Federer during what is considered to be the greatest era in the history of men\u2019s tennis.<\/p>\n

Tennis News<\/p>\n

ATP Qatar Open entry list, prize money, ranking points, dates: Alcaraz, Sinner, Djokovic in star-studded field<\/a><\/p>\n

Carlos Alcaraz asked if he is already at same level as Djokovic, Nadal and Federer<\/a><\/p>\n

Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

The 22-time Grand Slam champion made it clear that he did not agree with Mouratoglou\u2019s verdict by commenting on the coach\u2019s Instagram post with laughing emojis.<\/p>\n

The legendary Spaniard later deleted his comment, but he doubled down when addressing the debate in an interview.<\/p>\n

Speaking during a charity golf tournament at the Club de Campo in Madrid, Nadal argued it does not make sense to compare Djokovic with Alcaraz and Sinner given the age difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see the controversy,\u201d said the former world No 1 (translated from Spanish).<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to create controversy, but the point is that [Mouratoglou\u2019s] analysis is wrong, because it\u2019s like comparing today\u2019s [Lionel] Messi to the Messi who played for Barca, or today\u2019s Cristiano Ronaldo to the one who played for Real Madrid. That\u2019s simply my point of view.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, everyone has their own career, and I never said that some are better than others. Each person\u2019s career will show who has been better, and they are all great ambassadors for our sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we should be happy to have someone like Novak, who is still at the top after so many years on the circuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving Carlos is a blessing, because he is a great player who represents us all over the world, and on top of that, he is taking tennis to an incredible level. I think we can only enjoy and appreciate it, that\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Why Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are \u2018completely different\u2019 \u2013 ATP star who has played them<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rafael Nadal has labelled Patrick Mouratoglou\u2019s contentions analysis after Novak Djokovic\u2019s Australian Open victory over Jannik Sinner as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428],"class_list":["post-463223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}