World primary Novak Djokovic took a swipe in any respect the speak about the youthful technology of tennis gamers, saying rival Rafael Nadal and himself have been the ‘Next Gen’. The pair clashed for the 57th time in the Italian Open last on Sunday with Nadal successful a tenth trophy on the Roman clay at the expense of the defending champion. “The Next Gen younger individuals? Me, Rafa (Nadal) and Roger (Federer) are reinventing the Next Gen. We are the Next Gen,” Djokovic replied after accepting the runners-up trophy. Second seed Nadal won through 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 in 2hr 49min to match Djokovic’s record of 36 Masters 1000 titles and lay down a key marker two weeks out from the defence of his Roland Garros crown.
Both Nadal, 34, and 33-year-old Djokovic had ousted the last two ‘Next Gen’ trophy winners in Rome this week — Italian Jannik Sinner, 19, and Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas, 22 respectively.
Spaniard Nadal, who shares the record of 20 majors with Federer, also saved two match points to defeat Canada’s Denis Shapovalov, 22, and gained revenge on his Madrid Masters slayer Alexander Zverev, 24.
“Rafa is one of the biggest rivals I’ve had in my career, every time it’s a struggle, today almost three hours,” mentioned Djokovic, an 18-time Grand Slam title winner.
“I imply, I mentioned it thousand instances. I don’t know what number of instances individuals need me to repeat it,” the Serb later expanded in the post match press conference.
“Of course the Next Gen is there, is coming, whatever. But here we are still winning the biggest tournaments and Slams.
“I don’t know what to tell you other than that. I’m not focused on the Next Gen even though I know people, you know, it creates a story.
“People like to talk about it. Fine. The guys are there. They are already establishing themselves in the top 5, top 10 of the world. Nothing new. But we are still there.”
Djokovic leads Nadal of their general head-to-head file 29-28, however has not crushed the Spaniard on clay since the 2016 Italian Open quarter-finals.
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