Pete Sampras... Boris Becker... Andre Agassi... Rod Laver.. John McEnroe are few players who come to your mind when you think of tennis in the good old days. They contributed in raising the bar of the game (Lawn Tennis) with the level of commitment and 'never say die' attitude they displayed on the court.
Some of the greatest rivalries of all time have been major ingredient in lifting the level of this stamina wrenching game. To name a few rivalries -
1. Lendl-McEnroe
2. Connors-McEnroe
3. Sampras-Agassi
and then world saw, what can be said to be 'The Biggest Rivalry' in the history of open era, the rivalry that got world glued to television sets, the rivalry that parted friends into groups, the rivalry that raised the benchmark of how tennis was played earlier and is played now... the rivalry of Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal.
Swiss maestro with 17 Grand Slam titles and counting v/s gritty fighter from Spain with 13 Grand Slam titles to his credit have always set the court on fire. Both of them possess very contradicting style of play. While Roger would play a very classy, stand and deliver sort of a game (Yes, not just cricket, it happens in tennis too!) making the opponent run all across the court, Rafa would defeat the foe out of stamina and the ability to retrieve almost every shot fired at him. The 2008 and 2009 Wimbledon Finals that saw all of these were arguably the best tennis matches ever to have been played in open era.
Though Rafa hold 22-10 win-loss record against Swiss Maestro but their rivalry extends beyond numbers. The sheer passion, grit, determination and never seen before shot making adds fuel to the fire. Both tend to bring the best out of each other. Every single set, every single match, every single point is played with supreme commitment.
Roger's shout of "C'mon" after making a passing shot down the line to save a match point, Rafa's fist in the air on winning a long rally just adds on to the decade old rivalry.
While Roger is a better grass and hard court master than a clay court player, on the contrary Rafa has been known to be a 'King of clay court'. Both not just have long winning streaks (Federer - 65 on Grass, 56 on Hard Court / RAFA - 81 on Clay) against their name to boast of but each of these winning streaks was broken by the other man.
In the recent times, while Roger has been on slump, Rafa has grown stronger and stronger. While Roger managed to win just one ATP tournament, Rafa grabbed many more titles.
2014 should add a new chapter to this classy guy v/s stamina guy rivalry. No matter who wins, no matter who loses, in the end THE GAME WINS!
Who do you think is the bigger champ- Roger Federer or Rafa Nadal?
