Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had a unique tennis rivalry, and Federer has found an intriguing way to characterize the Spaniard’s match approach.
The two sporting icons’ tennis careers overlapped for 15 years before the Swiss icon retired in September last year with Federer’s last-ever professional match a doubles encounter alongside Nadal at the Laver Cup in London.
Fedal – as they are affectionately known by the fans – had a lot of similarities in terms of their careers and successes with Nadal winning 22 Grand Slams and Federer lifting 20 major titles while both spent lengthy periods at No 1 in the ATP Rankings.
However, they were completely different characters on the court with one more relaxed and the other intense.
Needless to say, Federer saw his great rival’s on-court routine hundreds of times and the Swiss Maestro used a unique way to describe Nadal’s on-court persona.
“I don’t know Rafa enough off-site, but he’s like a tiger in the cage whenever I see him at the courts and I feel I’m very relaxed on and off-site,” the 42-year-old told the ATP Tennis Podcast.
“He has incredible intensity, he’s always warming up, he’s always going around and there’s always stuff to do for him and he’s preparing and you can feel like there’s always a match on his mind.
“I don’t know if we’re so opposite you know. But yeah, I guess, to some extent, I’m may be more calm more relaxed whereas he goes, especially through the tennis days, in a more intense way when he’s on-site.”
The pair faced each other 40 times in competitive matches – the first-ever coming at the 2004 Miami Open with a young Nadal getting the better of the established Federer while their last outing was their 2019 semi-final clash at Wimbledon and the Swiss winning in four sets. Nadal ended up winning 24 of the matches in their head-to-head rivalry.
Federer was also asked if he misses facing his great rival on court and replied: “I haven’t thought about it, to be honest, if I miss playing Rafa.
“Not really, you know. Maybe more so happy not to play, just glad I’m not in that tough match where you stare down a centre-court match with one of the greats. It’s nerve-racking you know. I had it so often that it’s good not to have it anymore…”
