Sport’s Greatest Rivalry – Rafa vs. Roger

Throughout history, the popularity of sports has been built on rivalries. From baseball’s Yankees vs. Red Sox to cricket’s India vs. Pakistan, the intensity of certain matchups have a certain aura about them that pulls fans in, allowing them to attach to one side’s successes and failures and to despise the other’s existence.

In today’s sporting world, there is no rivalry that consistently provides more thrills than that between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, the world’s two best tennis players. For several years it has been generally accepted as not a matter of if, but when Federer surpasses Pete Sampras’s record number of 14 Grand Slam titles to accept the mantle of tennis’s greatest ever athlete. But at the French Open semi-final in 2005, Federer met Nadal for the first time in a Grand Slam tournament, and Rafa, as Nadal’s fans call him, played a match that would serve notice of those to follow. His game stood in the face of Federer’s, as if to say, “Superman, I will be your kryptonite.”

On that sunny 2005 day, a confident Roger Federer, the world’s number one ranked player, walked onto centre court at Roland Garros, already a holder of four Grand Slam titles. He needed only the French Open title to achieve the career Grand Slam at the age of 24 – winning at all four Major tennis championships – a feat only achieved twice before during the open era (by Andre Agassi and Rod Laver). Unfortunately for Federer, it was at this tournament that Nadal began his climb towards being the greatest clay court player of all time by defeating Federer in four sets and going on to win his first Major championship.

Fast forward to 2009: Federer, at age 27, holds 13 Grand Slam titles, one shy of Pete Sampras’s all-time record of 14. In early February of this year, Nadal thwarted Federer’s latest charge at the record by winning his first Australian Open Championship.

During his runners-up acceptance speech, Federer attempted to put on a brave face , acting as if losing to Nadal for the fifth time in a Major final was but a minor hurdle, saying, “Maybe I’ll try later.” But upon finishing these words, he broke down crying, forcing out, “God, it’s killing me,” before having to step away from the podium where the man who has caused all the anguish, Rafa, put his arm around him in consolation.

Nadal, at the tender age of 22, already holds six Grand Slam titles. He is showing that he may be more than just a consistent adversary, as Agassi was to Sampras for so many years. For comparison, at the same point in his life, one month short of his 22nd birthday, Federer had won three. Doubt has been cast on Federer being the heir to the title of “Greatest of All Time” as Rafa is on a sharper upward trajectory than his counterpart was at the same age.

All of this brings us to the upcoming week – The 2009 French Open begins on May 24th – where Roger will once again be gunning for the trophy. And the plot thickens as we approach the tournament: four days ago, he won the lead-up clay court tournament, the Madrid Open, beating Nadal in straight sets for the title, and ending his dominant 53 match winning streak on clay. It was also his first victory against Nadal in 6 tries, a streak that includes losses at last year’s French Open, Wimbledon, and the recent Australian Open.

Perhaps this glimmer of hope is all Federer needs going into the second Grand Slam tournament of the year. Out of the four tournaments, this is certainly the one he wants most, having won multiple times at the other three. It would certainly add some substance to his claim at being better than Sampras, as the former legend never did manage a title on the clay courts of France. However, Madrid and France are two different places. Nadal comes to Rolland Garros with four years of success under his belt. It is a slower surface than that of Madrid, mostly because of the lower altitude. A slower game combined with a best of 5 format, rather than a best of 3, certainly favours the fitter Nadal, tennis’s best grinder.

There are, of course, other tennis players who can challenge these two, and Federer may have a tough time with the natural clay courters such as Juan Martin del Potro, Gilles Simon, and Ferndando Verdasco. But we, the fans are rooting for the rivalry. We want only one thing: to once again see Roger and Rafa staring each other down from opposite ends of the court on a Sunday.