King of clay Rafael Nadal has been absent from court for more than 4 months now. The Spanish No.1 is one of the superstars of modern tennis, and his absence from court is starting to bother even rivals now. Novak Djokovic has come out and said that he misses the Spaniard.

The World No.1 has a healthy rivalry with the Spaniard, and both share a mutual respect for one another.

“Tennis misses Rafa a lot,” Novak Djokovic said. 

“He’s a globally recognized tennis player and athlete, a very popular, very attractive player to watch and a great competitor. He already became a legend of this sport and he’s only 26.

“I really hope for him that he’s going to recover and we’re going to see him in Australia, because he definitely deserves to be back. I’m sure that everybody will be happy to see him on the court.”

In the mean time, Nadal kept an eye on what’s going on in the tour. The World No.4 had congratulated Djokovic on his win over Roger Federer at the ATP World Tour Finals.