Rafael Nadal exhibitions ‘f***ed up’ tennis rival as Novak Djokovic warning shot

Casper Rudd ought to have taken a leaf out of Novak Djokovic’s e book by enjoying much less tennis throughout the low season in a bid to supply extra sustained success. That’s the view of former doubles world No. 1 Rennae Stubbs, who believes that the Serbian’s refusal to have the Covid vaccine has benefited him in the long run “giving him longevity” that has led to extra Grand Slam titles.

Djokovic missed the Australian Open and US Open in 2022 because it was obligatory to have acquired the vaccine to enter each international locations on the time. He was additionally pressured to take a seat out prestigious Masters 1000 occasions at Indian Wells and Miami earlier than border restrictions have been lifted.

But on his return to full motion this season, the all-time nice has received three out of 4 majors and was runner-up within the different, earlier than ending his excellent season as ATP Finals winner and world No. 1.

In stark distinction, Rudd, who reached world No. 2 in September final 12 months, has solely received one title on tour all season and disillusioned at three of the Slams, dropping to eleventh on the earth rankings. The 24-year-old did attain the ultimate of the French Open however was crushed by Djokovic.

Tennis commentator and analyst Stubbs, who’s a former coach of Serena Williams, believes that the clue to the 2 gamers’ vastly completely different fortunes lies of their pre-season preparation.

Speaking on The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast (as per Tennis365), Stubbs stated: “What Casper Ruud did, I think that really f****d him up. Last year when he kept playing those [exhibitions] with [Rafael] Nadal like fine, he’s like your idol and you want to go and you probably get paid millions of dollars to go do all of that.

“But you know then he didn’t play after that and then he was like ‘Oh my god, I’m gonna go to the tournament and I’m gonna play at the Australian Open’. It’s like he needed a break.

“I’m like, ‘Dude you got to pick your schedule a little bit better’, which is why I think Novak, for example, has been able to dominate the last few years. I mean listen, the pandemic was not a friend to him.

“Let’s face it, vaccines and all and not being able to play like three or four Grand Slams that he should have played and probably would have won, but you know what I think it’s given him longevity.

“Even more longevity because he actually was resting his body for a period of that time. So I think it randomly has helped him. I’m sure he’d probably like to have played.”

Djokovic received the Australian Open and French Open however was pegged again at Wimbledon, the place he misplaced a five-set thriller to Carlos Alcaraz. But the Serbian was quickly again to his greatest, successful the US Open in opposition to Daniil Medvedev earlier than seeing off Jannik Sinner on the ATP Finals.