Been watching tennis quite some time now, starting off with when the stars were Lendl, Becker and Edberg, to the Agassi-Sampras-Ivanisevic(juz put in the name cos he’s my sentimental fav) era, and just when u thought Sampras was the greatest thing ever in tennis, along came the swiss maestro, Roger Federer, and left you in no doubt as to who had the finest game ever.....
And then comes the muscled Rambo, Spanish bull, Rafael Nadal...with a game not as complete as Fed, but with such sharpness along the dimension he had....and suddenly Roger starts getting beaten.
So lets look at the two.....Try to evaluate who has what strengths and weaknesses...
At 26 Fed has 12 slams, sights firmly on Sampras’ 14. But guys, dont overlook the fact that Rafa, at 22 has 5, and he may break both their marks.
Roger, well he is complete in every aspect, can play any damn shot in the book, and has very well added more than a few of his creations to the tennis book as well. A serve as good as the best, a Forehand that is the best, a backhand as good as any in the game, beautifully disguised drop shot, a slick volley, killer smash, tremendous athleticism, amazing shot selection and game reading ability.A player with no apparent weakness. Almost like God has come into sports for the second time(first was in soccer as Diego Maradona).
Sounds unbeatable, huh?? Well try telling that to Rafa....
Rafa, well he has his weapons too, but his greatest weapon has to be his mental strength. You watch him in a match, nothing his opponent does affects him (for eg, second matchpoint at Wimbledon, a Fed magical backhand wins the point, no effect on Rafa, just got on with the job). His opponent may have thrashed him in a set, next set he comes out ready and firing. Then of course his top spin forehands, double handed backhand, drop shots, court coverage and fitness.
So what happens when the two meet? Rafa triumphs around 70% of the time.
Why? Simple, the desire to win is much greater in him. Its there in Fed too, but he is sort off mentally beaten as soon as he sees Rafa across the net. Whenever the two meet, Fed is already mentally beaten, sort of resigned. Even in that Wimbledon final, which was played in Fed’s home court, from start you somehow felt it was Rafa who would win, and Fed would be hanging on and fighting.
Then there is the pressure Rafa puts on Fed by retreiving all balls. For every point he is made to hit some 3 to 4 of his normal winners. And finally Fed just cracks.
So what does the future hold, in this greatest rivalry of all times??
I believe Fed can beat Rafa, if he lets go off his ego a bit. He knows Rafa would employ the strategy of looping heavy top spun forehands to his backhand. With his athleticism, he can easily run around his backhand, and hit inside out forehands for winners. But no, it seems like Fed says, I will beat you, and I will do it with my backhand employed to the full against the forehand of yours. Little bit of Vanity.
I also think Rafa winning the Wimbledon is a good thing. Now Fed has been knocked out of his comfort zone( Wimbledon was like his by right, till now). Next French, finally we may see the Swiss magician tame the Spanish bull....
Word of advice for anyone trying to learn the game.....Try to play like Rafa, and not Fed....Thats a game that can be learnt, fitness and biceps can be built, looping forehands with top spin come with practice. Dont even try to ape Fed, no one can do that, that game cant be taught, no amount of practice will get you any efficient at that game. You are either born with it or you are not!!!
*Some Interesting facts
They have played each other 18 times, with Nadal winning 12.
Surface records (see table below for individual scores):
Federer 2-1 Nadal on Grass
Federer 3-2 Nadal on Hard
Federer 1-9 Nadal on Clay
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 July 2008 they combined for 13 of 14 possible Grand Slam titles and 22 of 33 Masters Series titles. 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 a mere 6-8 against Nadal, who was the only man to have a winning record against him, and accounted for one third of all Federer’s losses during this time. Nadal has repeatedly denied Federer a Career Grand Slam by defeating him in each of the last four French Opens. 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 each of the last three years 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 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.
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
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