Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have always been pitted against each other and in some ways, rightly so. This is because Nadal became the first men’s singles player in tennis history to win the ‘Surface Slam’ in the same calendar year, which Federer couldn’t achieve. In 2010, the Spaniard made a name for himself in the history books by winning the French Open (clay), Wimbledon (grass) and US Open (hard). With his first title in New York City, Nadal ensured that he had won 9 Grand Slam titles in a span of 6 years at the age of 24.
No other player had dominated the ATP Tour in 2010 as much as the 22-time Grand Slam champion. On the other hand, Roger Federer had won the Australian Open at the start of the year but struggled soon after. He crashed out of the quarterfinals of the French Open and Wimbledon and he was the defending champion in both the Grand Slams. In the US Open, Federer was denied a shot at the title after losing in the semi-finals to Novak Djokovic, playing out a 5-set match that went right down to the wire. For the first time in years, the Swiss maestro was seen choking on match points, losing two of them.
Rafael Nadal stunned at 2010 US Open press conference question
One journalist asked Rafael Nadal in the post-match press conference after the US Open 2010 final win about what he believed he needed to do if he had to consider himself a greater player than his biggest rival then, Roger Federer. Visibly stunned with the question, Nadal responded that Federer had so many titles to his name that it was not possible but rather silly for him to believe that he was better than the Swiss maestro. And that was something which might hold true for the rest of their lives.
“There remain a lot of titles (the gap between them) so. Not duped about that. I’m more than happy that..with my titles. For sure, I think this talk about if I’m better or worse than Roger is stupid because the titles say he’s much better than me so that’s the truth at that moment and I think will be the true (truth) all my life.”
Graciously, Nadal further praised Federer by saying that he led by example on the Tour by improving all the time and that is something he wished to ‘copy’. However, he also acknowledged the fact that both of them had completely different styles of play so any comparisons were baseless. The Spaniard had also correctly predicted that there would be someone to challenge their rivalry in the future and that is no other than Novak Djokovic.
“But sure for me always, Roger was an example, especially because he improved his tennis I think throughout his career and that’s a good thing you can copy, so I try to copy this. And I know Roger and me are different, much different styles but being better than Roger, I don’t think so it’s the right moment to talk about that because I don’t think that.”
As compared to Nadal’s 9 Grand Slam wins, Federer had already broken the all-time record held by Pete Sampras as the Swiss superstar’s tally stood at 16 at the time. On the other hand, Djokovic had won just 1 Grand Slam, which was the Australian Open in 2008. The 2010 US Open loss to Nadal motivated the Serbian that the changes he was quietly making to his training, diet and fitness behind the scenes were working for him and the results subsequently showed the following season.
Co-incidentally after losing a close encounter to Djokovic in the 2010 semi-final in New York City, Federer never won a title there. The 2010s decade saw Nadal winning 4 US Open titles, while Djokovic was a close second with 3 championships to his name.
Are Nadal and Federer friends?
This query has often been asked by supporters of both the players, many of whom were against each other at the peak of the Nadal-Federer rivalry especially from the mid to the late 2000s. The answer to it is a yes, as Nadal has himself claimed in the past that he has had nothing but respect for Federer throughout their careers. In fact, the Spaniard had invited Federer to launch the first branch of his tennis academy, the Rafa Nadal Academy in his hometown, Mallorca in 2016. Federer accepted the invite and as a result, the academy got more global attention which has helped it grow in the last 7 years outside of Spain.
On the other hand, Federer recently admitted in an interview that there was a point in their careers when their relations were cordial but not as healthy as it turned out to be in later years once they matured. However, by playing more often and meeting outside the court in other endeavors, the duo developed a good bond. So much so that the Swiss star personally invited Nadal to play the last professional tennis match of his career alongside him in the Laver Cup 2022 for Team Europe in London. Despite being injured, Nadal accepted the invite and it made for not just blockbuster gate receipts and TV ratings, but snaps that were extremely emotional and iconic for generations to come.
