Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic say their rivalry has become a very special one, with the two having played 38 matches against each other.
The most recent was in the Dubai final, and Federer noted that the two have been meeting on bigger occasions since Djokovic reached the top of the rankings. The two are now No. 1 and No. 2 in the rankings.
"I think it started as a semifinal rivalry, you know, because me and Rafa [Nadal] were ranked 1 and 2 or 2 and 1 for a long time, and he was always 3 or 4. We always faced each other in the semis," Federer said, following his victory in Dubai. "You know, he became world No. 1 and then we still played each other sometimes, like last year, in the semis, but we started to play each other I felt much more often in finals as well and in the bigger matches like the US Open and Wimbledon now last year again and so forth."
The 17-time Grand Slam champion, who has had a legendary rivalry with Nadal, also sees his encounters with Djokovic belonging in a similar category. "I think it's really become a very nice rivalry. I think we play very nice against each other, and it seems people like the way we play against each other, as well," he said. "I don't think we have to adjust our games very much against each other, which I think is nice, as well. We can just play our game, and then the better man wins. It's been nice seeing Novak's improvements over all these years. He's become such an unbelievable player, especially the last five, six years, and cleaned up his game so nicely and became the best mover in the game. It's really a pleasure playing against him every single time again."
Djokovic also agreed that their styles produce top-level tennis, saying, "After Rafa, I've played the most against Roger in some big matches, finals. You know, we always make each other play our best tennis. We require from each other the maximum focus and commitment, and that's what raises the quality of the match."
The Serb has also improved by playing against them. "That's why he's who he is. I managed to achieve a lot in my career, I was saying before, because of the matches against Roger and Rafa, managed to learn, understand mentally, physically, game‑wise what I need to do to improve to get myself to the high level and to win Grand Slams, to be the best in the world," he said. With this win, Federer is 20-17 in their career meetings.