“When he was kicking my a**, he was ok with that” – Novak Djokovic says Rafael Nadal stopped liking his impersonations as Serb started winning

Novak Djokovic recently claimed that Rafael Nadal stopped liking his impersonations of him after the Serb started beating him on the tennis court.

Djokovic is known for doing on-court impressions of other tennis players. Over the years, he has imitated the serve routines of several players, including Boris Becker, John McEnroe, Maria Sharapova, and Nick Kyrgios.

But his Nadal parodies have been the most famous ones.

The Serb famously duplicated Nadal's lengthy serve routine at the 2007 US Open. He invoked great laughter from the stands as he mimicked the Spaniard's action of adjusting his pants. Later, in 2009, he even imitated Nadal right in front of him during the presentation ceremony at the Rome Masters.

During a recent conversation with John McEnroe, Djokovic reflected on his relationship with the Spaniard in their younger days. He claimed that Nadal had no problem with his impersonations until the Serb started to win a few matches against him.

"Early on in my career, when he was kicking my a** on the tennis court, he was ok with that, but when I started winning a few matches I felt like the energy shifted a bit," Djokovic said.

The duo have played 59 matches against each other, with the Serb holding a narrow edge in the head-to-head record (30-29). But the equation was heavily in Nadal's favor at the onset of their professional careers.

Until the end of 2010, both players had met 23 times, with Rafael Nadal winning 16 of those encounters. But Novak Djokovic managed to turn the tables in the next couple of years as he won seven straight matches, all finals. This included the title matches at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2011, and the Australian Open in 2012.

Novak Djokovic - "First with Rafa, now with Alcaraz, Spain has a great tradition in tennis"

Novak Djokovic with Rafael Nadal (L) and with Carlos Alcaraz (R).

Novak Djokovic recently hailed Spain's tennis culture by invoking the names of Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz ahead of his Davis Cup Finals campaign with Serbia.

During an interaction with the Spanish media in Valencia, Djokovic said:

"First with Rafa, now with Alcaraz, Spain has a great tradition in tennis. But hey, I'm from Serbia and these days I'm going to do everything I can to beat Spain."

Serbia and Spain have been drawn in the same group at the Davis Cup Finals. The Serb was expected to lock horns with Carlos Alcaraz during the group-stage ties, but the latter pulled out of the tournament following his semifinal exit at the US Open.

"The truth is that I expected to play against Carlos here in Valencia, he is a player I respect a lot, whenever I have measured him they have been very hard matches, he is a person and an incredible player," the 24-time Grand Slam champion added.