Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal own an unforgettable collection of on-court contests \u2014 including nine Grand Slam finals \u2014 and a healthy store of mutual off-court respect for each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw him grow, right in front of my eyes,\u201d Federer said in an interview with The Associated Press last year. \u201cI always feel like he\u2019s one of the guys from tennis \u2014 players \u2014 that I could call up and, if I told him something, it would be a secret between the two of us. And I appreciate that we were able to build a relationship like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Federer has always shown an admiration for his greatest rival ever in Rafa. He has often referred to Nadal as the \u2018little man from Majjorca\u2019 who came onto the tower and began making moves instantly. Nadal surprised the entire world by beating Roger Federer in Miami in straight sets in Miami (2004), setting the stage for one of the most intense rivalries ever seen in sport.<\/p>\n
Each has played more matches against Novak Djokovic, who leads his head-to-head series against the other members of the Big Three.<\/p>\n
Yet it is Roger vs. Rafa that seems to be the rivalry that stands above others. Perhaps because they\u2019re currently Nos. 1-2 for most men\u2019s Grand Slam titles. Or perhaps because of their epic 2008 final at Wimbledon, the tournament supposed to be happening now but canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
The dynamic between Federer, 38, and Nadal, 34, has shifted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went in phases a little bit. In the beginning, he was so extremely shy and he was so \u2014 how do you say? \u2014 like, looking up to me, that he just said, \u2018Whatever you say, Roger, I agree with you. Because you\u2019re so important to the game. And I know you want the right thing,\u2019\u201d Federer told the AP.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd over time, he became himself, the dominant player he became, and he started to build his own strong character. \u2026 And then, of course, the rivalry started building.\u201d<\/p>\n
As their fans call them collectively, \u2018Fedal\u2019 continue to raise the bar in the sport to the highest possible level. With 39 Grand Slams between them, they are showing no signs of stopping anytime in the near future. With a respectful friendship off court and an intense rivalry with heart wrenching matches on the court, Roger and Rafa continue to heat up the debate regarding who is the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of all time)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have one of the greatest rivalries and relationship in sporting history<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":37372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[245,202],"class_list":["post-16512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis","tag-nadal","tag-tennis"],"reading_time":"3 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}