{"id":1804103,"date":"2026-03-03T12:30:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T09:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1804103"},"modified":"2026-03-03T12:30:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T09:30:41","slug":"novak-djokovic-rafael-nadal-roger-federer-gael-monfils-gives-number-one-verdict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1804103","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer? Gael Monfils gives &#8216;number one&#8217; verdict"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"ps-article-content rounded-lg lg:mt-5 lg:border lg:border-card lg:bg-card lg:shadow-primary\">\n<header>\n<h1 class=\"py-4 text-xl font-normal text-title sm:text-2xl\">Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer? Gael Monfils gives \u2018number one\u2019 verdict<\/h1>\n<div class=\"my-2 flex items-center justify-between\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/author\/ewan-west\" class=\"text-sm font-normal !text-author\"><br \/>\n                            Ewan West                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <time class=\"ml-3 text-sm font-normal text-info md:ml-4\" datetime=\"03 Mar 2026 12:30 PM\" data-ps-date=\"03 Mar 2026 12:30 PM\" data-ps-datetime=\"1772541041\"><br \/>\n                            03 Mar 2026 12:30 PM                        <\/time>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden justify-end space-x-4 text-xl sm:flex sm:!opacity-100\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/gael-monfils-novak-djokovic-rafael-nadal-roger-federer-number-one-hardest-opponent\" class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" aria-label=\"Share to facebook\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Ftennis-news%2Fgael-monfils-novak-djokovic-rafael-nadal-roger-federer-number-one-hardest-opponent\" class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" aria-label=\"Share to twitter\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?mini=true&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Ftennis-news%2Fgael-monfils-novak-djokovic-rafael-nadal-roger-federer-number-one-hardest-opponent\" class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" aria-label=\"Share to linkedin\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/\/send\/?text=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Ftennis-news%2Fgael-monfils-novak-djokovic-rafael-nadal-roger-federer-number-one-hardest-opponent\" aria-label=\"Share to whatsapp\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <a class=\"!text-info hover:!text-brand\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/share.flipboard.com\/bookmarklet\/popout?v=2&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennis365.com%2Ftennis-news%2Fgael-monfils-novak-djokovic-rafael-nadal-roger-federer-number-one-hardest-opponent\" aria-label=\"Share to flipboard\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a>\n                    <\/div>\n<div class=\"sm:hidden flex items-center space-x-5\">\n                        <a class=\"!text-share-icon hover:!text-share-icon-active flex items-center justify-center\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" aria-label=\"Follow Tennis365 on Google Search\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/a><br \/>\n                        <button id=\"t365-article-share-btn\" class=\"mr-2 hidden h-6 w-6 appearance-none border-none !text-share-icon outline-none hover:!text-share-icon-active sm:hidden\" data-title=\"Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer? Gael Monfils gives \u2018number one\u2019 verdict\"><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/button>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5 border-b border-page\"><\/div>\n<section>\n<div class=\"-mx-3 sm:-mx-5\">\n<figure class=\"aspect-h-9 aspect-w-16 relative\">\n                                        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1320\" height=\"742\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"w-full h-full object-cover object-center !my-0\" src=\"https:\/\/d2me2qg8dfiw8u.cloudfront.net\/content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Novak-Djokovic-Rafael-Nadal-Roger-Federer-Gael-Monfils-1320x742.jpg\" alt=\"Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Gael Monfils\">                <\/figure><figcaption class=\"flex items-center space-x-3 border-b border-mobile-caption px-3 lg:border-caption\">\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-1.5 break-words !text-xs !text-content\">\n                                Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer with Gael Monfils inset                            <\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<div class=\"ciam-article-t365\">\n<p>Gael Monfils has broken down his experiences of playing Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer and identified a clear \u201cnumber one\u201d between the Big Three.<\/p>\n<p>Monfils, who will retire from tennis at the end of the 2026 season, has played a combined 50 matches against the legendary trio during a glittering pro career that began in 2004.<\/p>\n<p>The 39-year-old Frenchman amassed a 4-10 record against Federer and a 2-14 record against Nadal before the two icons retired in 2022 and 2024 respectively.<\/p>\n<p>The former world No 6 has lost all 20 of his encounters with Djokovic, with the matches spread across a 20-year period between 2005 to 2025.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wC5sgRV0uj8\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Sound Off Sports<\/em><\/a>, Monfils began with Djokovic when asked to name the hardest players he has faced in his career.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course, for me number one is Novak Djokovic. I never beat him. I never beat him\u2026 so far, maybe this year a last chance if I have to face him,\u201d said Monfils.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor me, Novak has this capability to actually answer all my questions, because tennis is a lot of questions; you ask, you answer, and he was just too good. And of course, he is a legend of our sport, so no shame of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>ATP Tour News<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/novak-djokovic-warned-25th-grand-slam-title-impossible\"><strong>Novak Djokovic warned his hopes of winning 25th Grand Slam title may be \u2018nigh on impossible\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-features\/indian-wells-2026-withdrawal-list-dubai-medvedev-rublev-khachanov\"><strong>Indian Wells Open withdrawal list: 15 players out as Medvedev, Rublev, Khachanov could follow<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Want more from Tennis365? Add us as <a rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tennis365.com\" target=\"_blank\">a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The 13-time ATP Tour titlist then spoke about the challenge of playing Nadal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDefinitely Rafa. Same in a way, that I can beat him, but the thing is, he beat me way more than I beat him. I think I only beat him twice,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut he was extremely hard to play against, with his physical, he was imposing you, like a really rough and physical match. His capability of moving the ball is extremely different because he was lefty. He was just different, as well. Another big legend.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Federer, Monfils said: \u201cFederer was just a quicker thinker, quicker player.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverything you maybe think that you want to do against him, he knew it, sometimes before you. It was unreal how he could escape awkward situations. His finesse, his flair of tennis was completely different.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Frenchman added:\u00a0\u201cSomehow, those three guys, three of the biggest legends of our sport, were just beautiful to play against, beautiful to learn, and also extremely fun for me to play against.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ NEXT: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennis365.com\/tennis-news\/novak-djokovic-rafael-nadal-roger-federer-most-difficult-opponent-goat-ivan-ljubicic\">Federer, Nadal, Djokovic? Former world No 3 names toughest opponent and gives GOAT verdict<\/a><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer? Gael Monfils gives \u2018number one\u2019 verdict Ewan West 03 Mar 2026 12:30 PM Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer with Gael Monfils inset Gael Monfils has broken down his experiences of playing Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer and identified a clear \u201cnumber one\u201d between the Big [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,249],"class_list":["post-1804103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-tennis365-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1804103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1804103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1804103\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1804103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1804103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1804103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}