Federer-Nadal rivalry

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are professional tennis players and rivals who have held the top two rankings on the ATP Tour since July 2005. Federer was ranked No. 1 for a record 237 consecutive weeks beginning in February 2004. Nadal, who is five years younger, ascended to No. 2 in July 2005 [http://www.atptennis.com/5/en/players/playerprofiles/rankhistory.asp?playernumber=N409&selyear=2005 ATPtennis.com - Nadal's 2005 ranking history] ] and held this spot for a record 160 consecutive weeks before surpassing Federer in August 2008. [http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/25978842/ It's official: Nadal will pass Federer for No. 1] ] Thus, Nadal is currently ranked No. 1 and Federer No. 2.

They have played each other 18 times, with Nadal winning 12. [http://www.atptennis.com/3/en/players/headtohead/?player1=federer&player2=nadal ATPtennis.com - Head-to-Head Results] ]

In addition to their record-length stays at the top two spots, there are many other significant qualities to their rivalry:
* From March 2005 through September 2008 they combined to win 14 of the 15 Grand Slam titles (2005 French Open to 2008 US Open, except 2008 Australian Open) and 22 of the 34 Masters Series. During this period, Federer and Nadal won 11 consecutive Grand Slam singles tournaments between them, starting from the 2005 French Open through the 2007 US Open.
* Federer had the most dominant four year run in tennis history from the 2003 Masters Cup through the 2007 Masters Cup. He won 43 titles, including 11 Grand Slams, 4 Masters Cups, and 13 Masters Series. His overall won-loss record was 320-24, but this included a mere 6-8 against Nadal, who was the only man to have a winning record against him.
* Nadal has repeatedly denied Federer a Career Grand Slam by defeating him at the French Open four consecutive times (2005-2008).
* Not only does each man possess Open era records for consecutive wins on a single-surface (Federer on both grass and hard courts, Nadal on clay), but all three streaks were ended by the other man.
* For three consecutive years, 2006-2008, they played in the finals of Wimbledon, the French Open, and two clay-court Masters Series. Nadal won every French Open and five of the six Masters, but Federer won two of the three Wimbledons.
* Their 2008 Wimbledon final has been lauded as the greatest match ever by many long-time tennis critics.cite news | author = Bruce Jenkins | title = The Greatest Match Ever | url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/06/SPP711KSLR.DTL | date=2008-07-07 | accessdate =2008-08-07 | language =] cite news | author = Richard Alleyne | title = Wimbledon 2008: John McEnroe hails Rafael Nadal victory as greatest final ever | url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/wimbledon/2305019/Wimbledon-2008-John-McEnroe-hails-Rafael-Nadal-victory-as-greatest-final-ever.html | date = 2008-07-07 | accessdate = 2008-08-07| language =] [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/jon_wertheim/07/09/wertheim.mailbag/index.html Jon Wertheim - Without a doubt, it's the greatest] ] cite news | author = International Herald Tribune, Associated Press | title=Federer-Nadal rivalry as good as it gets | url= http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/07/sports/TEN-On-Tennis-Rafa---Roger.php | date = 2008-07-07| accessdate = 2008-08-07| language =]
* They are the only men in the Open era who have played each other in six Grand Slam finals.
* Their only losses in Grand Slam finals were to each other.
* They played in a record seven Masters Series finals.
* Many critics consider their rivalry to be the greatest in tennis history.cite news | author = Paul Weaver | title = Move over McEnroe and Borg, this one will run and run in the memory | url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/jul/07/wimbledon.tennis4 | date = 2008-07-07 | accessdate = 2008-08-07 | language =] [cite news | author = Martin Flanagan | title = Federer v Nadal as good as sport gets | url = http://www.theage.com.au/news/tennis/federer-v-nadal-as-good-as-sport-gets/2008/07/11/1215658132528.html | date = 2008-07-12 | accessdate = 2008-08-07 | language =]

History

2004-2005

They played their first match in March 2004 at the third round of the Miami Masters. During the previous 9 months Federer had won his first two Grand Slam titles and became World No. 1 in February at the age of 22. Nadal, only 17 years old and ranked No. 36, [ [http://www.atptennis.com/5/en/players/playerprofiles/rankhistory.asp?playernumber=N409&selyear=2004 ATPtennis.com - Nadal's 2004 ranking history] ] shocked the tennis world by beating Federer in straight sets.

Their second meeting was a year later, again in Miami, but this time in the best-of-five-set final. Coming into the match, Federer had been a dominant World No. 1 for over a year. Nadal, still an up-and-comer ranked No. 31, won the first two sets. However, Federer recovered to win the third set in a tiebreak then controlled the final two sets, extending his record win streak in tournament finals to 18. Despite the blown lead, this match was considered by some tennis analysts as a breakthrough performance for Nadal. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/4412667.stm|title=Nadal proves to be the real deal|publisher=BBC Sport|date=2005-04-05|accessdate=2008-08-06]

They played again two months later in the semi-finals of the French Open. This was their first meeting on clay, and the stakes were very high. Federer needed the French title to achieve a Career Grand Slam, having already won the other three Slams. But Nadal had emerged as a dominant clay-court player, winning five tournaments and 17 consecutive matches leading up to the French. Nadal defeated Federer in four sets en route to his first Grand Slam singles title. This was also the first of four consecutive wins by Nadal over Federer at Roland Garros.

Though they did not play again in 2005, they formed an effective duopoly over the mens game by winning three of the four Grand Slams and all eight Masters Series they entered. They both won 11 titles, including a single-season record four Masters Series each. Federer won his third consecutive Wimbledon and second U.S. Open. During the second half of the year he won 35 consecutive matches and extended his record win streak in tournament finals to 24, but both streaks ended when he lost only his fourth match of the year in the Masters Cup final. [ [http://www.masters-cup.com/3/history/wrap2005.asp Federer loses in 2005 Masters Cup final] ] Nadal became World No. 2 in July, won eight clay titles, and finished the year on a 36 match clay win streak.citeweb|url=http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/news/story?id=2814194 |title=ESPN - List of Nadal's 81 straight wins on clay|publisher=ESPN|author=Greg Garber|date=2007-05-20|2008-08-01]

2006

They played six times in 2006. Nadal won the first four, beginning with the Dubai final in February. This ended Federer's Open era record of 56 consecutive wins on hard courts. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/05/sports/tennis/05tennis.html?_r=1&oref=slogin Nadal ends Federer's 56 match hard-court win streak] ]

Nadal then continued his domination on clay, defeating Federer in the finals of the Monte Carlo Masters, the Rome Masters, and the French Open. The Rome final was an epic five hour battle in which Federer led 4-1 in the fifth set but failed to convert two match points, and Nadal eventually triumphed in a tiebreak. [ [http://www.usatoday.com/sports/tennis/2006-05-14-masters-rome_x.htm Fantastic finish in Rome: Nadal edges Federer in five-hour thriller] ] Nadal then broke the Open era record for consecutive wins on clay with his first round victory in the French Open. In the finals, Federer quickly won the first set, but Nadal fought back and won his second French title in a fourth set tiebreak.

They faced off again a month later in the finals of Wimbledon, their first meeting on grass. Nadal's run to the final was somewhat surprising, as most tennis analysts considered him a clay-court specialist. [cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title = Rafael Nadal's success on grass | date = 2007-06-20 | publisher= | url = http://www.inthenews.co.uk/wimbledon/profile/sport/features/wimbledon-profile-men/rafael-nadal-runner-up-$1101912.htm | work = | pages = | accessdate = 2008-08-06 | language = ] cite news | author = Bruce Jenkins | title = Only Nadal in way of Federer's record run | date = 2007-07-08 | publisher= | url = http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2007/07/08/SPG9BQSUB41.DTL | pages = | accessdate = 2008-08-06 | language = ] On the other hand, Federer had broken the Open era record for consecutive wins on grass with his first round victory. Federer then fulfilled expectations by capturing his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title in four sets, also ending his five-loss streak against Nadal.

Their last match of the year was a straight-sets victory for Federer in the semi-finals of the Masters Cup, which he proceeded to win for the third time in four years. Nadal's career head-to-head advantage was now 6-3.

In 2006, they dominated the men's tour again, this time winning all four Grand Slams and holding the top two rankings for the entire season. Federer had his best year, setting the all-time record for most rankings points by capturing a career-high 12 titles, including three Grand Slams, the Masters Cup, and four Masters Series. He won 92 of his 97 matches and finished the year on a 29 match win streak spanning five titles. But four of his losses were to Nadal, who finished the season undefeated on clay.

An important footnote is that the ATP decided to end best-of-five-set matches in Masters Series finals after 2006. This was due, in part, to both Federer and Nadal withdrawing from the Hamburg Masters tournament because it began the day after their grueling five hour match in Rome. Thus, their ensuing best-of-five-set encounters all occurred in Grand Slams.

2007

They played five times in 2007, with Federer winning three. This is the only season he won their head-to-head matchup, narrowing Nadal's career advantage to 8-6.

Federer began the year where he left off in 2006, extending his win streak to a career-best 41 matches. He dominated his opponents en route to his third Australian Open title, becoming the first man since Björn Borg in 1980 to win a Grand Slam without losing a set. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/aus07/news/story?id=2744992 Espn.com - Federer wins 2007 Australian Open] ] He then won his career-best seventh consecutive tournament by capturing the Dubai title for the fourth time in five years. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/6415791.stm BBC - Federer wins 2007 Dubai] ] But his dominant streak ended in March with surprising losses to Guillermo Cañas in the early rounds of both Indian Wells and Miami. Nadal fared better at Indian Wells, winning the fifth hard court title of his career.

The spring clay-court season ensued, and for the second straight year Federer and Nadal played in three clay-court finals. Nadal won the first meeting in straight sets for his third consecutive Monte Carlo title. A few weeks later they met in the Hamburg Masters for the first time. Nadal entered with an 81-match clay win streak spanning over two years, but Federer defeated him for the first and only time on clay. He even bageled Nadal in the deciding third set. The next tournament was the French Open, and Nadal won their much-anticipated rematch in four sets, capturing his third consecutive French title. Federer squandered 16 of 17 break point opportunities, including 10 in the first set. [http://www.atptennis.com/1/en/2008news/federer_nadal.asp ATPtennis.com - Roger & Rafa: The Rivalry] ]

Their last two meetings in 2007 were also a repeat of 2006: the finals of Wimbledon and the semi-finals of the Masters Cup. Once again Federer won both, though the Wimbledon final was much closer this time. Federer won the first and third sets in tiebreaks, but Nadal won the second and fourth sets. Federer lost his cool towards the end of the fourth set and complained to the umpire about the Hawk-Eye line calling system. Nadal continued to apply pressure in the fifth set and earned two break point chances at 15-40 in both the third and fifth games. But Federer served well and saved all four break points. He then broke Nadal in the sixth game and swept the remaining games to earn his fifth consecutive Wimbledon title, tying Björn Borg's Open era record. [cite news | author = Caroline Cheese | title = Federer wins historic fifth title | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/6280788.stm | date = 2007-07-08 | accessdate = 2008-07-10| language =]

As in 2006, they held the top two rankings for the entire year and won all four Grand Slams. For a record third time in four years Federer won three Slams, including his Open era record fourth straight U.S. Open title. He also won the Masters Cup for the fourth time in five years. Nadal continued his mastery on clay, winning five titles.

From 2004 - 2007, Federer and Nadal combined to win a record 14 of 16 Grand Slam tournaments, with Federer winning 11, and Nadal 3. Their combined 88% win rate in Grand Slams over four years trumps the 69% success rate of Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe from 1978-1981. Federer also set the all time male singles record for most Grand Slam wins in a four-year span by winning 11 of 16.

The only potential disruption to the status quo was the emergence of Novak Djokovic as a strong World No. 3 in the summer. He earned this ranking by defeating the top three players in sequence at the Canada Masters. [ [http://en.epochtimes.com/news/7-8-14/58771.html Novak Djokovic Is Now the Real Deal] ] But against Federer in the U.S. Open final he squandered seven set points en route to losing in straight sets. [ [http://www.insidetennis.com/1007_usopen.html Federer wins the 2007 U.S. Open] ]

2008

They have played four times in 2008, and Nadal has won each time, extending his career advantage to 12-6. He also supplanted Federer as World No. 1 in August, thus ending Federer's record four-and-a-half year reign.

The first three months of the season were a threat to the top two because of Novak Djokovic's continued success. In January he won his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, defeating Federer in the semi-finals. This was the first Grand Slam that neither of the top two had won since the 2005 Australian Open. Djokovic then won the Indian Wells Masters and thus closed in on Nadal for the No. 2 ranking. But Nadal held him at bay by reaching the finals of the ensuing tournament in Miami, followed by yet another dominant spring clay-court season. Federer's performance dropped at the beginning of the year, and he later revealed that he had contracted mononucleosis in December 2007. However, he was back in playing shape for the spring season. [ [http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/23526713/ Federer had mono at Australian] ]

For the third straight year Federer and Nadal played in three clay-court finals. Nadal beat Federer in Monte Carlo for the third straight year, capturing his Open era record fourth consecutive title there. He won in straight sets, despite Federer holding a 4-0 lead in the second. A few weeks later Nadal avenged his only clay-court loss to Federer by defeating him in three sets for his first Hamburg title. And for the third straight year they played in the finals of the French Open. This was the most lopsided of all their matches, though, as Nadal only lost four games total and gave Federer his first bagel since 1999. This was Nadal's fourth consecutive French title, tying Björn Borg's all-time record, and he won it without dropping a set.

They also met in the finals of Wimbledon for the third straight year, in the most anticipated match of their rivalry. [http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2008/07/05/wimbledon-federer-nadal.html Federer, Nadal set for Wimbledon showdown] ] [http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/wimbledon08/columns/story?columnist=ubha_ravi&id=3473804 Nadal enters Wimbledon final with clear mental edge] ] Nadal entered the final on a 23 match win streak, including his first career grass title at Queen's prior to Wimbledon. Federer was also on a roll, having won his record fifth grass title at Halle without facing a single break point and then reaching the Wimbledon final without losing a set. Unlike their previous two Wimbledon finals, though, Federer was not the prohibitive favorite, and many analysts picked Nadal to win. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3474615&name=bodo_peter Peter Bodo - 5 reasons Nadal will win] ] They played the longest final in Wimbledon history, and because of rain delays, Nadal won the fifth set 9-7 in near-darkness. The match was widely lauded as the greatest Wimbledon final ever, with many long-time tennis critics even calling it the greatest match ever. [cite news|author=Alistair Magowan|title=Roger v Rafa - the best final ever?| url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/7493099.stm|date =2008-07-07| accessdate =2008-08-07| language =English] By winning his first Wimbledon title, Nadal became the first man since Borg to win both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same season. He also ended Federer's record streaks of five Wimbledon titles and 65 wins on grass.

Nadal continued to play well after Wimbledon, extending his win streak to a career-best 32 matches. He won his second Canada Masters title then made it to the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters. However, Federer lost early in both tournaments. This course of events guaranteed Nadal the No. 1 ranking on August 18th, officially ending Federer's record four-and-a-half year reign.

Nadal then solidified his No. 1 ranking by winning the gold medal in singles at the Summer Olympics. Meanwhile, Federer lost in the quarterfinals of Olympic singles but won the gold medal in doubles with Stanislas Wawrinka. Despite never having advanced past the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open, Nadal was favored to win given his recent success. He lost in the semi-finals to Andy Murray, whom Federer defeated in the final to win his fifth straight U.S. Open title. In doing so, he became the first man to win two different Grand Slams five consecutive times each. [ [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/tennis/specials/us_open/2008/09/08/bc.ten.us.open.mens.final.ap/index.html Federer wins 5th straight U.S. Open] ] Both Nadal and Federer defeated No. 3 Djokovic in the semi-finals of their respective title runs.

From 2004 - 2008, the two combined to win a record 17 of 20 Grand Slam tournaments, with Federer winning 12, and Nadal 5. No other pair of men has dominated the tennis circuit in this fashion for five consecutive years. Their combined 85% win rate in Grand Slams over five years trumps the previous best rate of 55% by Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi from 1993-1997. Federer and Nadal also matched their own four-year record by winning 14 of 16 Grand Slams from both 2004-2007 and 2005-2008.

Analysis

This is the statistical breakdown of their matches:
*Hard courts: Federer 3-2
*Clay courts: Nadal 9-1
*Grass courts: Federer 2-1
*Grand Slam Finals: Nadal 4-2
*Grand Slam Matches (all): Nadal 5-2
*All Tennis Masters Series events: Nadal 5-4
*Tennis Masters Cup: Federer 2-0
*All Finals: Nadal 10-4
*All Matches: Nadal 12-6

The history of the Federer-Nadal rivalry has, thus far, undoubtably been shaped, though not defined by, the surfaces on which the two players have met.

The highest number of matches between the pair have been played on clay, which is Nadal's favoured surface. Indeed, Nadal is so proficient on the surface that as of 5/5/08 he had won 102 of 103 clay court matches and 20 of 21 clay court tournaments entered since early 2005. [www.sportsline.com/tennis] Federer's sole win on clay broke Nadal's all-time record of 81 consecutive clay court wins. Although prior to the win at the 2007 Hamburg Masters, in which Federer achieved a bagel, he had lost his first five matches against Nadal on clay, the contests were in no way perfunctory affairs. Federer had taken a set off Nadal in each match bar one prior to Hamburg, held match points at the 2006 Rome Masters, and won the first set of the 2006 French Open 6–1. However, Federer seemed to regress in 2008, failing to take advantage of a 4–0 lead in Monte Carlo (second set) [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/7369679.stm|title=Federer v Nadal as it happened|publisher=BBC Sport|author=Phil Harlow|language=English|date=2008-04-27|accessdate=2008-07-12] and a 5–1 lead in Hamburg (first set), [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/7407196.stm|title=Nadal battles to win over Federer|publisher=BBC Sport|language=English|date=2008-05-18|accessdate=2008-07-22] before Nadal inflicted his heaviest victory yet over Federer at the French Open. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/7441733.stm|title=French Open [Men's singles] |publisher=BBC Sport|author=Piers Newbury|language=English|date=2008-06-08|accessdate=2008-07-22]

Meanwhile, as Federer routinely dominated the ATP Tour's hard court and grass court tournaments from 2004–2007, Nadal did not feature as prominently in the finals of hard court events. The Sportstar section of the The Hindu commented that, irrespective of this, Federer's negative win-loss record against Nadal was, "Not the kind of thing that looks pretty on the resume,"; Jon Wertheim, chief tennis writer of Sports Illustrated, countering this argument, estimated that the players' record against each other would be "closer to 50-50" had Nadal reached more hard court finals, despite Federer having a 3-2 advantage over Nadal on hard court. [cite web|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/jon_wertheim/07/09/wertheim.mailbag/1.html|title=Without a doubt, it's the greatest (cont.)|publisher=Sports Illustrated|author=Jon Wertheim|language=English|date=2008-07-09|accessdate=2008-07-13] Given that Federer and Nadal always have the top two seedings when both playing in the same tournament (since July 25, 2005), they are always on opposite sides of the draw and therefore can usually not meet before the final. However, the Tennis Masters Cup has a tournament structure where they will meet in the semi-final if they come first and second in their respective four-man groups, and this happened in both 2006 and 2007.

The limited grass court season (four tournaments, including Wimbledon) makes meetings between the pair less frequent. However, their 3 meetings on grass have come at Wimbledon Championships final. On their initial encounter on grass, Nadal succumbed to Federer in a respectable four set loss; however, he commented afterwards that grass remained a "difficult surface". [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/5163014.stm|title=Federer battles to fourth crown|publisher=BBC SPORT|author=Piers Newbury|date=2006-07-09|accessdate=2008-07-21] Jimmy Connors commented at the time that it dispelled the idea that Nadal was merely a clay-court specialist. Nadal penetrated further in to Federer's game the subsequent year, taking Federer to five sets. However, it was the following year, on July 6, 2008, that Nadal claimed an historic victory over Federer on grass; ceasing Federer's all-time record of 65 consecutive grass court wins. Federer at that time had 40 straight wins at Wimbledon (all other victories came from Federer's winning streak at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, NRW, Germany), one shy of tying Bjorn Borg's all-time winning streak there of 41.

Federer and Nadal have never played on a carpet surface; the likelihood of this impeded as a result of there being very few carpet tournaments, and also because both players did not attend the Paris Masters from 2004–2006.

Analysts have commented on how their differing personalities and playing styles have made the rivalry such a compelling one to follow.cite web|url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/tss/tss2934/stories/20060826016200400.htm|title=Fierce rivals|publisher=Sportstar (The Hindu)|author=S. Ram Mahesh|language=English|date=2006|accessdate=2008-05-09]

Off court, the players enjoy a good-spirited relationship. [cite web|url=http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/02/26/10107056.html|title='Off court, we are good friends'|publisher=Gulf News|author=Alaric Gomes|date=2007-02-26|accessdate=2008-05-09]

List of all matches

ATP, Davis Cup, and Grand Slam main draw results, with Grand Slam results in boldface:

Exhibitions

On November 21, 2006 they played an exhibition match on a hard court in Seoul, South Korea. Federer won 6–3, 3–6, 6–3. [cite web|url=http://ia.rediff.com/sports/2006/nov/21fed.htm|title=Federer downs Nadal in Seoul exhibition|publisher=Rediff India Abroad|date=2008-11-21|accessdate=2008-05-18]

On May 2, 2007, they played in the "Battle of Surfaces" on a hybrid court that was half clay and half grass. Nadal prevailed 7–5, 4–6, 7–6(10).

References

See also

* List of Grand Slam Men's Singles champions
* Records held by Roger Federer

External links

* [http://www.atptennis.com/1/en/2008news/federer_nadal.asp ATPtennis.com - Roger & Rafa: The Rivalry]
* [http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/07/sports/TEN-On-Tennis-Rafa---Roger.php Federer-Nadal rivalry as good as it gets]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/jul/07/wimbledon.tennis4 Move over McEnroe and Borg, this one will run and run in the memory]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/skills/5019976.stm How Nadal beats Federer on clay]
* [http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/wimbledon06/columns/story?id=2491396 How to beat Roger Federer, by Patrick McEnroe]