Novak Djokovic has admitted his rare practice session with Rafael Nadal felt “very unusual”.
Djokovic and Nadal have certainly been getting used to each other’s company over the past week.
Last Thursday, the top two male tennis stars competed against each other in an exhibition match held in Kazakhstan.
The duo then both flew to France for the start of the Paris Masters, where they took surprisingly took to the practice courts together on Saturday morning.
Nadal and Djokovic were spotted training together for around 30 minutes.
The Spaniard is notoriously one of the hardest working players on the practice courts, often approaching the session as he would a match.
And Djokovic admitted the whole situation was a bit alien given their usual meetings are played out in front of a packed crowd.
“It was actually very unusual,” Djokovic said.
“It was strange because when I see him across the net, that means I’m playing him probably [in the] semi-finals or finals of a big event, but this time it was a practice session.
“But nevertheless, the intensity was like a match.”
Djokovic went on to explain the true level of his relationship with Nadal.
“I enjoyed it, to be honest. It was great,” he added.
“It was a lot of fun. It was very intense and competitive, as you can imagine, obviously, but in a very respectful way.
“We are rivals but that doesn’t prevent us from being respectful and treating each other in the right way and our teams as well.
“I have always had that kind of relationship with Rafa.
“And regardless of which course our careers went to and how tense maybe sometimes [our rivalry is], we always had respect for each other.”
