Fedal rivalry

The Federer–Nadal rivalry (normally known as Fedal Rivalry) is between two tennis professional players Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, regarded by many as the two greatest tennis players of all time. These two giants of tennis have played each other 40 times (as of April 2021) where Nadal has got the better of his swiss rival 24 times, meanwhile Federer won the bout 16 times.

This rivalry span over 16 years and has produced some of the greatest encounters, inarguably the greatest match of all times played at the finals of Wimbledon 2008 between the 2 in which the Spaniard got the better of Federer.

Both players hold the top 2 spots for men’s most grand slam titles won with 20 GS titles each. Together they won 11 consecutive grand slams titles from Roland Garros 2005 till 2007 US Open, as well as 6 consecutive titles on two separate occasions. Furthermore, they are the only pair who have finished 6 consecutive calendar years as the top 2 in ATP rankings.

Out of their 40 matches, 20 were played on hard courts, 16 on clay, and 4 on grass. Federer edges on his best surface, grass (3–1), and on hard court (11–9) while Nadal dominates Federer on clay (14–2). Nadal leads 10–4 in all Grand Slam tournament matches, 6–0 on clay, 3–1 on hard courts and trails 1–3 on the grass in Grand Slams.

Federer and Nadal have a great deal of respect for one another and are the epitome of sportsmanship. They also shared off-court moments that aided in the development of a strong bond.

Roger Federer on his friendship with Nadal:

“To be honest, we understand each other very, very well,” he told TVA Sports. “What I like about Rafa is how open and honest we are one another. We respect each other so much. Are we best friends? I do not think so. He has better friends than me and me too. But in the end, it is about respect. When we fight on the court, we are rivals.”

 

Nadal shares this vision about his friendship with Federer:

“The concept of a friend for me has a lot of meaning and is very powerful. For me, language is a barrier to establishing a bond as strong as a friendship, for example, with Roger Federer. We have that the rivalry and that our habits of life are very different. I would say that I do not have friends, but very good companions.”