Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal: rivals on the court, friends off the court. The world has seen nearly 17 years of pure domination by these two tennis stars. But how did this rivalry begin? Let’s dive into the greatest rivalry the world of sports has ever seen.
Theirfirst meeting at the Miami Masters in 2004was particularly special. Although Federer was No. 1 in the world at the time, Nadal was a budding talent who ranked outside the top 30. Nadal created a major upset by demolishing Federer6–3, 6–3 in the third round. It was the first time the tennis circuit had seen a player add so much spin and power to a shot, a combination to which Federer had no answer.
One year later, they met at the finals of the same tournament, but this time with a different result. Federer learned from his mistakes and defeated Nadal in anepic five-set thriller, winning 2–6, 6–7 (4), 7–6 (5), 6–3, 6–1.
“I’m happy with my game but not with the final result,” Nadal said at the time. “I think my game was good from start to finish. In the fifth set, once I lost my serve, I lost the match.” It was a match in which Federer had come back from two sets behind to win. A sense of rivalry between the two had already started brewing, and Nadal was hungry for victory.
Just a few months later, Nadal got his revenge with a four-set victory over Federer at the French Open. Clay was always Nadal’s favorite surface, and his style of play has always been suited best for the slow, clay courts of Paris. That 2005 French Open was hence a very important tournament for Nadal, marking his first Grand Slam victory and his first win over Federer at a Grand Slam.
In subsequent years, Federer was still dominant on the grass. With consecutive victories over Nadal at the 2006 and 2007 Wimbledon finals, Nadal had no answer to Federer’s attacking game which suited him better on the Wimbledon lawns.
The 2008 Wimbledon finals, arguably the greatest tennis match ever played, marked the change of guard in men’s tennis, with Federer finally getting dethroned on his favorite surface and Nadal becoming thefirst man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win Wimbledon and the French Open back to back.
The five-set thriller, which resulted in a 6–4, 6–4, 6–7 (5), 6–7 (8), 9–7 victory for Nadal, was a memorable match for the tennis greats.
Since then, there has been a constant back and forth between the two, with Federer leading the way in grass and Nadal dominating the Paris clay courts.
Both of them have suffered numerous injuries and have come back from that in ways nobody had imagined possible. The 2017 Australian Open final, another five-set thriller, was a true testament to that.
With both Nadal and Federer making comebacks from injuries, nobody had expected a lot from them at that tournament. Proving everyone wrong, the two greats defeated the best players in the world to compete against each other in a fairytale final, which Federer eventually won.
“It’s the combination of two different styles that makes the matches really special,” Nadal said after the final. “Both of us have a different way to play tennis [and have] a lot of good success with these two different styles. I feel that this rivalry goes not only in the tennis world. People from outside of our world talk about it and that's good for our sport.”
The two have played each other 40 times, with the Spanish star leadingthe rivalry 24–16. These two legends have always had a healthy respect for each other, and it’s been a privilege to watch two great athletes compete against each other.
