Aljaz Bedene, one of the tennis players who decided to hang up his racket this season at just 33 years old, gave an interview to the Slovenian edition of Sportklub where he retraced his career and where he also wanted to get wet with the debate on who is the best tennis player in history.
On this point Bedene believes that, despite Federer being the most influential, Djokovic will be the most outstanding in terms of results ahead of Nadal. “Let’s not close our eyes. Roger Federer was the player who most influenced tennis, but the best in terms of results will be Djokovic. I think when Nadal and Djokovic retire, Novak will have more Grand Slams, Masters and possibly more tournaments in total. I have faced Nadal, Djokovic and Federer at least twice and Djokovic is the one who hits the ball the most and is perfect.
Bedene also had words of affection towards Rafa Nadal looking back at the circuit. “During the ATP tour I have always seen the same faces for almost 20 years. It is a routine. but rI know I have received recognition from the best as well, as did Rafa Nadal at the last US Open. Despite their greatness, even the great figures of tennis are still human. I had an excellent relationship with tennis players like Roberto Bautista, Damir Dzumhur and also with almost all the Serbs except Novak Djokovic, with whom he has always coincided in the timetable “
The Slovenian also wanted to confess the two occasions on which he was on the verge of death. “I almost died twice: in Blumenau, in a tournament in Brazil; and subsequently due to a complication of appendicitis. I played even though the doctor begged me not to. At the US Open I was lucky to lose that game because otherwise I could have died. In Brazil, if the boiler had been lit ten minutes later, half of the hotel would have blown up. I was with the coach Igor Roric on the second floor before seven in the morning on the second floor of the hotel. The first concerned the offices that were destroyed and if there had been someone would have died. The explosion was so strong that I couldn’t sleep for 14 days. “
As for what happened in the 2012 US Open qualifiers, Bedene admits he played a match in the qualifiers despite the risk that his appendix could explode in the middle of the game. “As for appendicitis, in 2012 I won my first game in the US Open qualifiers but I had pain in my lower body. I thought he was hungry but at night the pain got worse. I went to the doctor and he told me not to play but I asked him about painkillers. I took four pills before my match with Daniel Kosakowski, but the doctor was so worried he was on the sideline and called an ambulance. In the match I lost 3-6 in the first set and I won 6-3 in the second but in the third I couldn’t move and I lost. If I had reached the third qualifying round I would have liked to play risking the explosion of the appendix. After the game the doctor told me in the ER that I was very lucky and in the end it all ended with an arthroscopic procedure ”.
One of the outstanding issues with which Bedene ended his career was to walk away without getting at least one career win against Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Murray, which he believes he could have achieved in 2020 had it not been for the pandemic. “I think he could have won at least one game against Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Murray before COVID. In the second half of the 2019 season I played the third round of the US Open with Zverev in four sets and two of them went to tie-breaks. I reached the quarter-finals in Vienna and fought with Tsonga for the title in Metz. In February 2020 I beat Tsitsipas and lost to Auger-Aliassime in the neighborhoods of Rotterdam. I think if I had played a good spring I would have gotten closer to the Top 20, but then we were told that the season was over before Indian Wells. I joined the Barcelona 4Slam academy of Galo Blanco, I trained with great tennis players and this made me more prepared than ever, but the coronavirus has arrived. “
