Wilander calls Djokovic the 'most disappointed player' at French Open in Nadal's absence

Mats Wilander believes the absence of Rafael Nadal left Novak Djokovic disappointed as the competitor in him would have liked to play him on the court.

Djokovic considers Nadal his greatest rival and stats would back that up. They played numerous times with both winning about an equal amount of matches. Nadal won't be in Paris which Wilander thinks is disappointing to Djokovic even though it increases his likelihood of winning by a considerable amount:

“I think that in a way, you're disappointed maybe more than anything that you don't get to play Rafa somewhere. And I would think for Novak Djokovic, he’s most probably the most disappointed player in the whole tournament. Because surely he would like to win his 23rd - his third French Open - by beating Rafa Nadal along the way."

Wilander then turned his attention to the GOAT race which feels weird to him due to the absences:

“It's such a big time in tennis right now in terms of the history of the game and the history of being the greatest ever. And when we don't get Novak because of the Covid vaccine situation and now we don't get Rafa because of injury, the race is kind of weird in my mind. I mean, I've always said it. I hope in many ways that Rafa and Novak end up on the same number of Grand Slams, and then Roger Federer will be mentioned in the same sentence as the greatest ever anyway.”