WATCH: The moment when Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal turned from bitter rivals to friends commencing the ‘Fedal’ era
Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer knew in some of those moments during the Australian Open 2009 that they are making the history together.
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Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer
Two of the greatest players of all time – Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer completely changed the dimensions of the game in the 2000s followed by the legacy of the Co-GOAT Novak Djokovic. The friendship off the court between Federer and Nadal was always there but it took a high during the Australian Open 2009 when the Spaniard gave a heartwarming gesture after winning his first ever hard court slam of his career after beating his biggest rival.
Rafael Nadal from Mallorca came into the spotlight of tennis when it was single-handedly ruled by the Swiss Maestro. During a time when the rest of the tour feared the Swiss, the Spaniard who is 5 years younger went neck to neck with the Swiss and out-battled him in most of the important matches. The 2008-2009 season was the perfect example of this. In 2008 Spaniard destroyed Federer including a bagel in the French Open final. Followed by this, Nadal conquered Wimbledon defeating the Swiss again in arguably the greatest match of all time.
This was further taken into the distance when the Mallorcan man defeated Federer on the hard courts of the Australian Open 2009 final as well. By defeating Federer in the finals on 3 different surfaces back to back, the Swiss Maestro’s lone journey at the top finally came to an end. This reality check would have been the reason that even made the Swiss weep during the presentation ceremony in the Rod Laver Arena.
Being only in his early 20s, the maturity shown by the Spaniard to not celebrate his epic victory due to respect for the Swiss maestro was an absolute turning point in the way the tennis world saw them from then on. Federer whose grace is unparalleled came back to give his speech in the ceremony after having had to stop the first time due to emotional overflow. The image of Nadal and Federer together here then became one of the most celebrated pictures of tennis history.
7–5, 3–6, 7–6(7–3), 3–6, 6–2 was the final score in the epic 5-setter of the Australian Open 2009 final. It was also the Spaniard’s second 5-setter victory in 3 days. His semifinal victory against compatriot Fernando Verdasco was also an epic 5 setter.
Even though the year 2009 started in tears for the Swiss, fate changed for him in the second slam as an injured Nadal got out of the tournament in the quarter-finals and Federer went on to complete the career slam by conquering the Parisian dirt. That was the only time Federer was able to win the French Open.
The Fedal rivalry
There was a time when Roger Federer was invincible and he was ruling the tennis courts all over the world. The peak he had between 2004 and 2007 still makes him relevant in the GOAT debate despite going below Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in most of the stats.
Federer won 3 out of 4 Australian Open titles, won all 4 Wimbledon titles and US open titles between 2004 and 2007. That is 11 out of 16 slams won in four years. 3 of the slams Federer lost in this period were against Nadal in the French Opens. Nadal came like he was designed in a lab to beat Federer.
It seemed like Nadal was a secret project to take down Federer. He single-handedly stopped the dominance of the Swiss legend. The ‘Fedal’ rivalry took a new high when Federer finally defeated Nadal in a Grand slam match in the 2017 Australian Open final. He had to wait for 10 years to finally beat Nadal in a slam match after the 2007 Wimbledon final and the first time he solved the Nadal puzzle outside a grass court on a slam match.
Their head-to-head still favors Nadal 24-16 overall and 10-4 in slam matches but Federer coped up with Nadal during the final years and beat him in 2 out of their last 3 slam matches.
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Vipul Payattuparambil
(552 Articles Published)