#i'll fill ur timelines with academic essays on someone's personal relationships at this point

[zingaplanet]

Love that ask! I've also wondered what the rest of the tour makes of how absurdly close Roger and Rafa are. Not to stir the pot but I think it bothers Novak - in the sense that he seems to consider Rafa his biggest rival and has been vocal about that many times. It has to rankle a bit that Rafa doesn't feel the same and openly says Roger is the most important player in his career, whereas Novak would say that about Rafa. He also looked uncomfortable at times getting a front row seat to the Fedal love affair. Those 3 definitely have a complicated history with each other but I guess it is what it is.

Yea i get what you mean, it's a bit strange the dynamic between the 3 but it also developed like this because of the different kind of timelines between their rivalries that I talked about in the previous asks.

In a sense, I feel for Novak a bit as he's always going to be the odd one out, he always says that Nadal and Federer are his greatest rivals (because they are), but they never really say that about him specifically. And this is not due to any discredit on his competitiveness whatsoever it's just the way their career histories come to clash with one another. Federer and Nadal were fundamentals to each other's first rise to power, but when Novak started joining them, both Roger and Rafa were already at the top (they've both been world number 1s). It's a different sort of camaraderie, in a way that Rafa and Roger never really had to 'prove' themselves the way Novak had to with them, by breaking in to their duopoly.

It's also fascinating because Rafa was technically closer to Andy and Novak's generation than Roger's, they're practically age-wise peers. But because Rafa peaked so early (when he was 17), his 'growing up' on the tour is actually with the likes of Roddick, Federer, Hewitt, Ferru etc. You can actually see this in the early days, he was much more in a 'friend-like' relationships with Andy and Novak compared to how he was with Roger. I remember reading an article of an interviewer who was tailing Rafa for the day and when they arrived at the parking lot of the practice courts somebody was making crazy noises and calling his name from the car across them. It was Novak and Rafa came over to joke with him etc and the interviewer said that he was surprised how well they actually know each other. Judy Murray also said that Rafa was Andy's constant FIFA buddy, they used to play football matches on playstation until midnight during tours, but also online when they were both at homes. This was all before Murray Djokovic started challenging for titles seriously of course. There's actually a lot of insights to the early tour days that we missed from this golden generation of tennis. Like it or not, they technically grew up together and saw each other more than their own families, it's a bit like school! Except these players moved continents every few weeks or so. Novak and Andy have actually known each other since they were 12, they were practically childhood buddies. I've also read some crazy stories about the spanish armada pranking andy roddick etc during the old days and I would pay really good money to see a reality tv coverage of these days! It kinda makes me miss the old generation of tennis, so many of them are gone now 🥺

Anyhow, back to Roger though, he was actually quite a bit detached from the group in the early 2000s I feel, just because his 'actual generation' that is hewitt, etc were retiring and he's stuck with this influx of new kids who are starting to be really2 good (*ehem* cue a certain Spaniard) after 4 or 5 years of really boring competition. Everybody likes him tho, because ofc he's Roger, and Roddick actually said he was the first World Number One that he actually genuinely couldn't dislike lol. But I suppose he was more of a 'father' figure, he was the world number one, and everybody just put him on a pedestal.

The only person that Roger actually genuinely connect to in these early days, even before their rivalries fully blossomed was Rafa, I guess. The relationship Rafa had with Roger in the beginning was very different, and both of them said this as well these days, it was more of a schoolboy idolation with mutual respect and bond. Even then it was a different relationship than what Rafa had with his spanish teammates or age group peers. Rafa, in a sense I think, was the first one who actually broke this generational gap. By breaking into the scene, he's someone who, interestingly, became sort of the connecting string between his age group peers with the 'top guys', specifically because it was obvious that Federer liked him a lot lol. And Rafa was actually the first one who actually forced Roger to rethink his game, and reshifted his perception of their rivalries. He said this himself, he kinda have to force himself to accept that he now has an equal, a rival that will stay and challenge him for good.

I think we talk a lot about this 'mentor-mentee', 'idol-fan' dynamic between Roger and Rafa but what really really shifted their dynamic forever and solidified their bond I feel was when both of them had to sort of shift in the spectrum and fully accept each other as equals. I feel like this was a huge growing up moment not only in their careers but also in their lives.

By the time Novak came around, it was almost impossible to break into this detente respect that Federer-Nadal have built between themselves, although Novak had no difficulty in breaking their ranks. Personally, though, I don't think Djokovic had any qualms about the bond that he clearly KNOWS Federer-Nadal have and if I can respect him for anything, I guess it's for this. He might be a bit bitter of being the odd one out early on but I think this year's Laver Cup especially, really really showed how Andy and Novak accepted their roles in this weird four-way rivalries dynamic. That they will always be in the background in terms of personal bonds, and Andy even goes so far to say that it was right that Roger should finish with Rafa, not anybody else.

It's a strange kind of aura that everyone sorts of knows they're witnessing something untouchable, something special that's unbreakable in their bubble. A good comparison, randomly, is The Beatles. Both four beatles are extremely close with each other and considered each other brothers, but even then they knew Lennon-McCartney had a special bond, and George and Ringo would never try to break into their bubble when they were writing songs together.

So there you have it, a completely, unprompted, presumably presumptous long essay that is probably untrue lol. But one asked and one shall receive anon. One shall receive.