9 Tennis Rivalries That Stoked Hate: ft. Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal & John McEnroe
09/06/2024 08:30 AM
With the US Open men's semi-finals about to begin, the contests on the schedule feel more like a love-in than grudge matches.
Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe are best mates, while Jannik Sinner and Jack Draper get on well off the court too…
People want (a bit of) friction, right? It's a war out there, as Jimmy Connors once said. Here are some of the most heated relationships between players.
Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ashe
When Arthur Ashe walked on court in the 1975 Wimbledon final with a USA Davis Cup blazer, it was seen as an unsubtle dig at Jimmy Connors' lack of commitment to the national team.
Connors, the then world No 1, was in the middle of a $3 million dollar lawsuit against Ashe, who had called him "unpatriotic."
When the tennis began on Centre Court, the 32-year old took the pace off the ball and bamboozled Connors in front of a stunned crowd, winning in four sets.
A few days later, Ashe referred to ‘Jimbo’ as a "nice guy" and said he was the best player in men's tennis. Connors dropped his lawsuit.
Pat Cash and Ivan Lendl
An 18-year-old Pat Cash, fresh from the junior circuit, ran into the established world No 1 Ivan Lendl in a Monte Carlo Country Club locker room in 1983.
Cash said that Lendl made fun of some red jogging shoes that had been given to him and literally destroyed them in front of the teenager. The Australian flew into a rage and the pair had to be separated by Paul McNamee.
"From that day on, I disliked the guy intensely. He was always so conceited, so superior, and always used to put people down," Cash recalled.
The Australian got his ultimate revenge when he beat the Czech in straight sets in the 1987 Wimbledon final.
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Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev
Daniil Medvedev has had a complicated relationship with some players, although his long-running feud with Stefanos Tsitsipas appears to be over.
The Russian insists that he has never been close to Alexander Zverev, and this wasn't helped by a fallout at the 2023 Monte Carlo Masters.
Zverev complained that his opponent was "one of the most unfair players on the tour" after the 2021 US Open champion took a bathroom break and even unhinged the net post at one point.
"We can't be like best friends, it's impossible. Too much competition," Medvedev retorted as he suggested the German should take a look at himself in the mirror.
Robin Soderling and Rafa Nadal
Robin Soderling was the first person to beat Rafael Nadal at the French Open in 2009, opening the door for Roger Federer to clinch his solitary title at Roland Garros.
The seeds of Nadal's irritation with the Swede had been sown in a third-round match at Wimbledon in 2007.
The match lasted five days, because of the weather rather than Nadal's slow play, but Soderling couldn't resist mimicking the Spaniard's tugging of the shorts.
After winning in five, Nadal launched into his opponent, saying he was a bad sport, didn't apologise for lucky shots and was disliked in the locker room.
Soderling retorted that the ‘King of Clay’ was in complaining mood. "I think all players play faster than him," he barked.
David Nalbandian and Lleyton Hewitt
Australia's Davis Cup captain, Lleyton Hewitt, played with a snarl — and David Nalbandian was never going to take that lying down.
These two barely disguised their contempt for one another. Hewitt crushed the Argentinian in the 2002 Wimbledon final for the loss of just six games.
In the 2005 Australian Open quarter-final, it was much closer – Hewitt prevailed 10-8 in the fifth – but the match saw the duo brush shoulders at the change of ends.
Hewitt said seven years later: "I have never spoken to the bloke since [and] I probably never will. I am not a big fan of the guy. I have heard some stories about him."
In 2006, Nalbandian claimed that nobody was a friend of Hewitt's at a Davis Cup semi-final match in Argentina.
Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova
When a 17-year-old Maria Sharapova beat Serena Williams on Wimbledon’s Centre Court in 2004, it felt like one of the most seismic shocks sport had ever seen. However, the animosity between the two soon emerged.
"Serena and I should be friends: we love the same thing, we have the same passion," Sharapova said in 2017. “But we are not friends—not at all. I think, to some extent, we have driven each other."
As Sharapova released her autobiography, Williams said that the sections on her were 100 per cent hearsay.
At the business end, it was one-way traffic after that SW19 final as the Russian lost her last 18 matches to Williams after winning two of the first three. Don't poke the bear…
Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios
The 24-time Grand Slam champion and the Australian now share playful bromance, but it wasn't always this way.
Kyrgios famously has no filter and he let rip back in 2019, accusing Djokovic of having an obsession with being liked. He also called the Serb "a tool" and "a strange cat."
Djokovic hit back ahead of the 2021 Australian Open, saying that he respected the Australian for his tennis, but not as a person. The ‘Djoker’ changed his tune after they met in the 2022 Wimbledon final as the relationship blossomed.
John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl
Andy Murray saw the fun side of Ivan Lendl that the watching public of the 80s and 90s didn't. The Czech cyborg was the polar and Arctic opposite of firebrand John McEnroe.
The American once boasted: "I have more talent in my little finger than he has in his entire body," as their rivalry heated up.
Lendl also provided McEnroe with the greatest pain possible when he came back from two sets down in the 1984 French Open final, a match that still haunts ‘Superbrat’ to this day.
John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors
Jimmy Connors was a proper competitor and played hard. The ‘Brash Basher of Belleville’ doesn't like the modern way of hugging each other at the net.
There was absolutely no chance of that when he took on John McEnroe.
Connors ruled the roost in the 1970s until McEnroe came along and started to threaten his status at the top of the rankings.
In 1982, ‘Jimbo’ leapt over the net to confront McEnroe at an exhibition event in Chicago, requiring officials to break it up as words were exchanged and fingers were wagged.
Connors told the New York Times: "He's aggressive, I'm aggressive." Not much chance of a fight between Fritz and Tiafoe…
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