When we see certain tennis players at events around the world it is easy for us to presume that they simply hate one another because they have faced off against the other so many times in pursuit of being the winner. However, it kind of appears as though the opposite is the case in most instances especially amongst the greats. Sure there are probably a lot of reasons to dislike certain players like Stefanos Tsitsipas who is well-known for abusing certain privileges like bathroom breaks to try to throw off his opponent and I would imagine that anytime he travels or is in some sort of press conference that he is avoided by almost every other player who isn't also from Greece, but as for the rest of them, I think they are kind of drawn together by greatness and also because they are all very very wealthy because of what they do for a living.
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This pic of the two of them emerged on social media recently as they were both headed to USA for the Indian Wells competition and some people say that Nole "broke the internet" by posting the two of them together, apparently enjoying one another's company. When we see these guys so intense on the court and the rivalry between them is hyped up in the press, I suppose it is easy to presume that they would have a profound hatred for each other.
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I've watched a few documentaries about various tennis stars over the years and in each of them you end up hearing stories about how certain players will actually go out of their way to help other competing players in every aspect of their game aside from giving away points on the court. Taylor Fritz and Medvedev have both commented when they were interviewed about how Novak would call them regularly to congratulate them on wins and even to help them out with tips every now and then, not that they needed it.
In my mind I think that being in the elite tennis circle would inspire a sort of fraternity if for no other reason than the fact that almost all tennis pros in the top 100 are exceptionally wealthy people because of their excellence in the sport and well, there isn't really any good reason to hate on anyone else because of that because the ability of the other players is a big part of the reason why being at the top level in this sport is so lucrative. While I am sure there are some that get along with others more than some other people do, there isn't really any good reason to harbor any sort of long-standing feud with another player.
Nadal and Nole were always meant to be bitter rivals but this was mostly created by the press as both of them were vying for the GOAT spot in the annuls of history. Now that it seems apparent that Nadal isn't going to see that particular mountain peak, there isn't any reason for any real animosity between the two, if there ever even was.
If there is anything that we can agree might bring these guys together it would be money: Nadal has a net worth of around $500 million and surprisingly, Djokovic has a net worth of around half that much. No matter how you cut that particular information pizza, they are both exceptionally wealthy and probably don't ever worry about how much anything costs. That picture is almost certainly a private plane because if you have that much money, you don't fly commercial.
The reason for Nadal being worth more than Djoko is only because of sponsorships because until he started losing his hair, he was considered very good looking as well as a monumentally great tennis player. No offense to Nole, but he doesn't really have that handsome look now does he?
One thing that surprises me is that with all that money and time off that he has had, Nada hasn't pursued getting hair plugs like Federer clearly has had done. Perhaps that is the only real animosity between the two in the pictures because Nole seems to be immune to male pattern baldness.