Rafael Nadal claimed 22 Grand Slam championships throughout his illustrious career and he did so with such passion and flair.

He defeated great rival Novak Djokovic to win some of those titles and their rivalry goes down in tennis history as one of the greatest.

In what ways can Rafael Nadal’s retirement impact Novak Djokovic?

In the past some tennis players have admitted how they have been impacted by a rival leaving the sport. John McEnroe was never the same after his biggest rival Bjorn Borg shockingly retired from tennis at the age of 25 in 1981.

Nadal was overcome with emotion as she shed tears alongside Roger Federer when the Swiss Maestro retired at the 2022 Laver Cup.

Djokovic has since admitted to feeling a sense of emptiness as his biggest rivals leave the sport, and Tennis Podcast member Matt Roberts thinks what will take a significant toll on Djokovic moving forward.

In fact, he made a bold prediction regarding how much longer the Serbian will continue to play professional tennis. “We have to take into the context of Nadal retiring. I genuinely think that has an impact on Djokovic,” Matt Roberts said.

“He gave a great quote saying part of me leaves with them, talking about Federer, Nadal and Murray all retiring recently. If he doesn’t have payoff I think in the first half of next year I think he’s suddenly going to feel a bit lonely like out there.

“Without his biggest rivals he’s got these two new younger rivals who at this stage he’s struggling to beat, I think next year for Novak Djokovic is going to be so interesting.

“I’m kind of leaning towards that we might not be seeing Novak Djokovic for much beyond next year, that’s kind of just how it feels to me right now.”

Novak Djokovic told what he needs to find to beat Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner again

During the latest episode of the Tennis Podcast the panel debated whether Djokovic has lost his motivation now he has achieved everything in the game.

Winning the Olympic gold medal was the one title Djokovic craved more than any other, and he finally achieved that goal in August.

In what his best performance of the season, Djokovic beat Carlos Alcaraz 7-6, 7-6 to become Olympic champion in Paris.

But Roberts is unsure whether Djokovic will be able to rekindle that sort of motivation for the rest of his career, and believes he will need that if he wants to beat Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner again.

“Still the best performance I’ve probably seen all year was Djokovic in that Olympics final, but I don’t think he’s ever going to be that motivated for anything again in his entire career,” Roberts said.

“An extra slam would be great, it would be a real bonus but I think an Olympic gold was a need. If he hadn’t got that his career wouldn’t have been complete.

“It is complete now and he doesn’t have that edge in these matches and he needs that edge to beat Alcaraz and Sinner right now.”

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