The beauty of any sport lies in its tales. In tennis, a fascinating story is the decorated rivalry between two modern-day greats, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Ever since their first meeting at Miami back in 2004, this duel has brought goosebumps to tennis fans worldwide. One reason is that it’s a story of contrasts. One player is a net-rusher, always as cool as a cucumber. The other is a relentless ‘baseliner,’ who wears emotions on his sleeves.
2017 was a special year, not only for these two greats but for tennis in general. Federer had an injury-riddled 2016. He failed to win a single title on the tour–the first time that happened in nearly 20 years. And although Nadal had won a couple of titles on clay in 2016, that year wasn’t special by any means.
But, come 2017, everything would change for the then-35-year-old Federer and the 30-year old Nadal. In 2017, the duo locked horns four times. Perhaps the best of the set was at the Shanghai Masters.
Following back-to-back title in New York and Beijing, the Spaniard was on a 16-match winning streak on the hard courts. Federer was chasing his record-equalling 94th career singles title victory–a feat that would put him on par with Ivan Lendl as the most singles titles won…ever.
Before Federer and Nadal met in Shanghai, Federer had won the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and in Indian Wells, Miami, and Halle. Nadal won the French Open and in Monte Carlo, Madrid, and Barcelona. He added another U.S. Open to his ‘Slam” tally, and also won the Beijing Open.
But in head-to-head matches, Federer got the better of Nadal on three previous occasions.
Coming into the Shanghai final, Nadal and Federer had lost just a solitary set en route to the final. It would be a question of who would blink first.
Despite being on a 16-match winning streak, Nadal knew that the clash against Federer would be his biggest test of the year. After a thrilling Australian Open final earlier in January–where Federer edged past the Spaniard in five sets–Nadal was blown away in straight sets by the Swiss maestro in their subsequent meetings at Indian Wells and Miami.
In Shanghai, Federer had Nadal under the gun right from the go. Nadal was broken in his opening service game after saving a couple of breakpoints in a valiant effort. Federer’s relentless service games, tremendous ball placement, and his aggression pushed Nadal into uncomfortable positions.
The Spaniard wasn’t able to recover as Federer breezed through the first set 6-4 in just 35 minutes. The second set’s story wasn’t different, either. Nadal had no answers to Federer’s onslaught. A double break in the 2nd set ensured that Federer won the set 6-3 to clinch his 2nd Shanghai Masters 1000 crown.
Federer was so dominant in his service games that he didn’t face a single break point against Nadal, while he broke his archrival thrice in the match. Nadal won a meager eight points while receiving as compared to Federer’s 25. That was the difference between the two on that day. The Swiss great continued his dominance over Nadal in 2017, beating the Spaniard for the fourth time in as many matches.
The title win at Shanghai helped Federer equal Lendl’s long-standing record of 94 career Single titles triumphs. Subsequently, two weeks later, he broke that record by winning his 95th title at his hometown in Basel. He was, in a few words, the best of all time.
Have things changed since 2017? Following his win at this year’s French Open, Nadal has now equaled Federer’s tally of 20 Major titles. For tennis fans, it means that we hope to witness at least a few more ‘Fedal’ clashes. They are, to say the least, tennis at its best.
