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Sport is often labelled a vehicle with which we can escape the mundane, worrying or dark facets of everyday life a means to forget where we are and be lost in the moment. This feeling was mirrored by myself a childhood, adolescence and early adulthood spent watching these two titans compete is now over and serves only to underscore that most certain of things – the passing of time. That, alongside the awareness that this most special era is over and that he too will soon be bowing out. Rafa’s tears were an acknowledgement of the end of the career of a man whose achievements, both wins and losses, were intertwined with his own. Make no mistake the Federer-Nadal rivalry was the catalyst for all that followed, as a previously somewhat elitist sport seeped into the global consciousness, seducing people from all walks and runs of life. The term “golden era” is often used in sporting commentary but surely only underplays the past 15 years of men’s tennis. This relentless drive to be the best doubtless pushed forward the level of the men’s game across the board, elevating by sheer necessity the games of, amongst others, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, who may well end up as the most successful male player the sport has ever seen. Other memorable moments followed, not least those 5-set Australian Open final classics in 20, as these two giants continued redefining what we thought was possible on a tennis court.

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The moment he achieved this, taking the number one ranking from the Swiss under the fading light on Centre Court in the 2008 Wimbledon final may well represent the zenith of their rivalry and, for many, was the full stop to the greatest tennis match of all time. Nadal, in turn, came to represent the sporting counterculture, his continual quest to depose Federer at the top of the men’s game initially personifying a true underdog story (how’s that for another cliché) before developing into an all-out titanic battle of the utmost quality. It cannot be disputed that Federer’s presence took the game to new legions of adoring fans, previously distant observers now waxing lyrical over that one-handed backhand. Nadal could barely have played in starker contrast – a whir of intensity, muscle and never-say-die spirit, a raging bull that could not be tamed, grinding his opponents into the dirt, however long it took. Sporting cliches are well founded for a good reason, and no athletic tug-of-war whets the appetite like a true clash of styles in this regard, “Fedal”, as their rivalry-turned-bromance has become affectionately known, could have written the original textbook.įederer, almost god-like in his poetic grace, barely broke a sweat, each wave of his wand-like racquet adding a new layer to the canvas of his tennis masterpiece. Yet to try and tell their storied history with purely facts and figures is to do this tale a great disservice.

Their clashes always felt blockbuster but don’t just take my word for it – their 40 matches included nine major finals, five major semis, twelve masters finals, and five meetings at the season-ending world tour finals. The statistics themselves are absurd – they’ve amassed 42 grand slam singles titles between them and spent one week shy of a combined decade on top of the world rankings. Rafa won in straight sets that day, the opening chapter in a quite wonderfully dramatic novel that has matched, and in my humble view, surpassed any rivalry since popular sport began to take notice of these things. The pair first met in the third round of the Miami Masters in 2004, a mere 222 months ago. However, that which indeed carried the greatest weight was the pure emotion displayed by his greatest rival on this heady night in London.

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The Swiss great’s retirement has naturally led to a myriad of tributes and well wishes from the good and the great, encompassing fellow sporting legends to politicians, movie stars and everything in between. The sight of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal sitting side by side, crying as they held each other’s hand, was surely enough to move even the most emotionally stoic observer. For all the deserved fanfare regarding Team World’s first successful tilt at the Laver Cup, as the curtain came down on the tournament’s fifth instalment, the enduring image was that involving two men who contributed not a single point to their team’s cause.