Former World No. 1 Mats Wilander talked about Rafael Nadal’s 2015 season in a recent interview. According to the Swedish tennis legend, the 14-time grand slam champion is returning to his top form, but there is one big obstacle to the Spaniard’s success and that is no other than - Novak Djokovic.

After an anxiety-plagued 2015 season that saw Nadal lose confidence and form on the tennis court, the Spanish tennis star has revived his old spark since his third-round exit to Fabio Fognini 3-6 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4 at the US Open in September. Nadal, who plummeted to 10th in the world rankings, ended the season within the top five.

Towards the remaining tournaments of the season, Nadal pulled through impressive performances reaching the finals of two ATP World Tour 500 events at the China Open (lost to Djokovic 6-2 6-2) and Swiss Indoors Basel (lost to Roger Federer 6-3 5-7 6-3). Nadal also made it in the semifinals and quarterfinals of the ATP World Tour 1000 events at the Shanghai Rolex Masters (lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4 0-6 7-5) and the BNP Paris Masters (lost to Stan Wawrinka 7-6(8) 7-6(7)), respectively. Nadal also displayed great form at the season-ending tournament in men’s tennis, scoring victories over Andy Murray and Wawrinka, before falling to Djokovic in the semifinals.

“It turned out to be not the greatest year, but I think he’s (Nadal) back, in terms of the respect in the locker room is back,” Wilander said in an interview as quoted by All Sports. “He’s back in terms of he’s not going to lose to too many players that are ranked lower than him.”

Wilander believes that Nadal will continue his form next season, especially in the big tournaments, but he also believes that Djokovic will present a big impediment for Nadal. The seven-time grand slam Swedish champion said that Nadal had a great chance of defending his title at Roland Garros earlier this year if the Spanish tennis star had not played Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

Nadal and Djokovic’s head-to-head record is tied at 23-23, but the Spaniard is 0-4 against the Serb in their clashes this season. Nadal still leads in their head-to-head grand slam record 9-4.

“It’s all about can he (Nadal) win a slam and can he beat Novak Djokovic on the way to do that? I don’t think we know that until he’s actually done it.”

Nadal is currently in Manila to play for the second leg of the International Premier Tennis League. Djokovic was also slated to take part in the second season of the team tennis exhibition tournament, but pulled out to recover after an intense 2015 season.

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