Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal “stay on court until the death” in Grand Slam finals, according to Casper Ruud – who has played both men at that stage of a major.

Djokovic and Nadal are the most successful male players in Grand Slam history, winning 24 and 22 singles titles respectively.

Ruud has played three Grand Slam finals, with one coming against the Serb and one against the Spaniard – both at Roland Garros.

The Norwegian fell 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 to Nadal in the 2022 final, before losing 7-6(1), 6-3, 7-5 to Djokovic the following year; he was also beaten by Carlos Alcaraz in the 2022 US Open final.

Speaking on the Nothing Major podcast, the former world No 2 described the pair as the most “motivated players” in the history of the sport – and detailed the challenge of facing them in a major final.

He said: “The two finals I played, against Rafa in 2022 and against Novak in 2023, I thought: ‘Could it be harder – can you find more motivated players in the history of the game?’

“You understand that they’re probably going to stay on court until the death. They don’t want to lose, especially when Novak is trying to win his 23rd Grand Slam.

“You know he’s just going to lock it down and you can be 5-1, 40-0 in the first set and he’s probably going to win it one way or another.

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“Against Nadal, with his foot injury, I was pretty optimistic. I came in with confidence, I wasn’t too nervous, certainly a little bit, but I didn’t feel like I had any pressure.

“But the match started and I got broken in the first game, that’s it.”

Djokovic’s tally of 36 Grand Slam singles finals is a record across both the men’s and women’s games, with Nadal not too far behind on 30 finals.

The pair faced off in nine major finals against each other, with the Spaniard – who will retire next month – holding a slender 5-4 advantage in such matches.

Nadal has lost just eight of his major singles finals, while Djokovic lost just 12 of his 36 finals at Grand Slam level.

While Nadal has just one tournament left in his career and Djokovic looks set to call time on his 2024 season early, Ruud is still in action.

The 25-year-old’s Swiss Indoors Open campaign came to an early halt on Wednesday, beaten in three sets by a resurgent Roberto Bautista Agut in the opening round.

The Norwegian has struggled to find his best form ever since his run to the last four at Roland Garros back in June, where he was affected by illness in his semi-final loss to Alexander Zverev.

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