Roger Federer was known as the ‘King of Grass’ but his fans are remembering him for some of his performances on clay. The 20-time Grand Slam champion was a much better player on clay than what he was considered to be. Unfortunately for him, Rafael Nadal dominated on the surface for such a long time that Roger Federer was left behind in this regard. One particular stat though, shows that Federer matched up to the ‘King of Clay’ in one Big Three record.
In 2014, Roger Federer has the longest winning streak against Novak Djokovic in a single clay-court ATP 1000 Masters Tournament. A Reddit post by r/tennis shows a bar chart with Federer, Nadal, and Carlos Alcaraz. In it, Roger Federer, who won 3 consecutive matches against Novak Djokovic at the Monte Carlo Masters, was the first player to achieve this feat against the Serb.
Following him is Rafael Nadal, who also won 3 consecutive matches against Novak Djokovic, but at the Italian Open. Nadal also has another 2-match winning streak against Djokovic at the Italian Open and a 2-match winning streak at the Monte Carlo Masters. Only Carlos Alcaraz follows, who has a 1-match winning streak at the Madrid Open.
Roger Federer played Novak Djokovic for the first time at the Monte Carlo Masters 2006, which was also their first-ever clash. A young Djokovic almost gave Federer a run for his money in that match. In the end, Federer won it 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
The next time they met was at the 2008 Monte Carlo Masters semi-final. Federer was once again ahead by 6-3 in the first set. Unfortunately, though, Djokovic retired hurt in the second set when the score was 3-2 towards Federer. Federer once again won, after getting a walkover.
The last time they met in Monte Carlo was in 2014. This was again in the semifinals, and Federer beat Djokovic 7-5, 6-2 to enter the final.
However, despite that record, Roger Federer never managed to win the Monte Carlo Masters, while Novak Djokovic clinched the title twice.
Roger Federer Has a More-Than-Decent Record on Clay
On clay, Roger Federer has won 226 matches in his career and lost 71, with a 76% win percentage. Federer is amongst the four players alongside Nadal, Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka who has won the French Open title in the last 15 years. The Swiss star was victorious in many important matches on clay, that saw him win either titles or make it at least to the finals or semifinals on some occasions.
Here are the clay-court titles Roger Federer won throughout his career:
The Istanbul Open 2015, The Madrid Open 2012, the French Open 2009, the Madrid Open 2009, the Hamburg Open 2007, the Hamburg Open 2005, the Swiss Open 2004, the Hamburg Open 2004, the Bavarian International Tennis Championships 2003 and the Hamburg Open 2002.
