The men's tennis "Big Three" matchup is a classic and a fan favourite, and retired Spanish star Rafael Nadal recently talked about his strategy and ideas for the matchup between Swiss legend Federer and Serbian star Novak Djokovic.

Rafael Nadal, the king of Spain

Nadal, who has a 24-16 career advantage over Federer, said: "Even though I've played a lot of matches with Novak, we've played just as important games, if not more, but with Roger, my strategy is much clearer. I kept ruining his backhand and even if I had a chance to score the winner on his forehand, I needed him to move away from the backhand position to create more space to hit the ball, but he tried to avoid that, he tried to play more aggressively, and every time I hit his forehand, I would take a step back because for me, his forehand was the best I've ever faced. ”

Nadal went on to say that sometimes the game is like chess, "Everybody knows what to expect, what the strategy is going to be, but against Novak it's a little bit different, we can have a strategy, but I need to play better against him." ”

Nadal has played Djokovic 60 times and has 29 wins, saying, "We don't have the same style, but it's not a strategy for Novak, against Federer I can ruin his backhand, but against Novak I don't feel that way, I started to cut against him, sometimes it worked for me, and I played more into the middle without giving him a lot of angles, in terms of possession, he was the best opponent I've ever played and the best I've ever seen." ”