What is your favorite rivalry?
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drakulie
Talk Tennis Guru
tacotanium
Professional
Fed vs. Nad. two completely different kind of players. so fun to watch. i wished they'd go h2h more.
Justin Side
Hall of Fame
Federer has played Nadal in 3 Wimbledon Finals, 3 French Finals and 1 Australian Final. He's 2-5 and has only ever beat him at Wimbledon. The Major matches are what really matter, as Fed always reminds his buddy Andy Murray. If Rafa and Fed become the first male rivals to meet at all 4 Major Finals in the Open Era, Rafa has the chance to earn the career Grand Slam vs one opponent. 3 steps down at 24 years old, 1 to go.
tennisplayer666
Banned
Federer has played Nadal in 3 Wimbledon Finals, 3 French Finals and 1 Australian Final. He's 2-5 and has only ever beat him at Wimbledon. The Major matches are what really matter, as Fed always reminds his buddy Andy Murray. If Rafa and Fed become the first male rivals to meet at all 4 Major Finals in the Open Era, Rafa has the chance to earn the career Grand Slam vs one opponent. 3 steps down at 24 years old, 1 to go.
Well you have to ask yourself, why haven't they met more than 3, 3 and 1? They've entered many more slams than that. Fed's been in 18 of the last 21 finals. Why then is it only 3, 3, and 1? That is the question.
Justin Side
Hall of Fame
The ATP ranked the top rivalries of the last decade back in December. Not a ton has changed in those rivalries since then then. Some are still active, others are finished.
http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2009/12/Decade-In-Review-Rivalries.aspx
1- Fed vs Nadal
2- Sampras vs Agassi
3- Nadal vs Djoker
4- Fed vs Nalbandian
5- Rafter vs Agassi
6- Santoro vs Safin
http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2009/12/Decade-In-Review-Rivalries.aspx
1- Fed vs Nadal
2- Sampras vs Agassi
3- Nadal vs Djoker
4- Fed vs Nalbandian
5- Rafter vs Agassi
6- Santoro vs Safin
drakulie
Talk Tennis Guru
Federer has played Nadal in 3 Wimbledon Finals, 3 French Finals and 1 Australian Final. He's 2-5 and has only ever beat him at Wimbledon. The Major matches are what really matter, as Fed always reminds his buddy Andy Murray. If Rafa and Fed become the first male rivals to meet at all 4 Major Finals in the Open Era, Rafa has the chance to earn the career Grand Slam vs one opponent. 3 steps down at 24 years old, 1 to go.
Hey you seem to know a lot about the Nadal/Federer matches. Could you provide us any links of Nadal reaching any of the following finals:
AO> 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010
USO> 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
I can't find the links anywhere.
Thanks in advance.
Vamos!
Justin Side
Hall of Fame
Name me one male rivalry that have met in more Major Finals than Federer and Nadal? How many do we expect them to meet in? Should it be held against Rafa that he didn't make Major Finals at 17 or 18 when Fed was 21-23? Should we slam Fed for not gracing Rafa with his presence at the last few Majors? Be happy we have a record 7 meetings, probably a record 9-10 by the time they finish. Some fans are never happy.
Name me one male rivalry that have met in more Major Finals than Federer and Nadal? How many do we expect them to meet in? Should it be held against Rafa that he didn't make Major Finals at 17 or 18 when Fed was 21-23? Should we slam Fed for not gracing Rafa with his presence at the last few Majors? Be happy we have a record 7 meetings, probably a record 9-10 by the time they finish. Some fans are never happy.
No, but it's a knock on him for not showing up at the USO final. USO is slam too, in case you didn't know. Nadal was a force in 2005 when he was one of few players in history to win 10+ titles. Fed was there 6 straight years during his best. But it's too late now, Roger has past his prime. Roger did his job but unfortunately rafa isn't that good on fast hc. Also part of it we don't blame him b/c they are nearly 5 yrs apart. The closer their age difference, the better rivalry. You cannot dispute that.
Justin Side
Hall of Fame
What is your favorite tennis rivalry over the years?
1980-81: Mac vs Borg
1982-1983: Mac vs Connors
1984-1985: Mac vs Lendl
1986: Becker vs Lendl
1987-1988: Lendl vs Wilander
1989-1990: Becker vs Edberg
1991: Lendl vs Edberg
1992-1993: Sampras vs Edberg
1994-1995: Sampras vs Agassi
1996: Sampras vs Becker
1997-1998: Sampras vs Rafter
1999-2002: Sampras vs Agassi
2003-2005: Fed vs Fat Dave
2006-2009: Fed vs Nadal
2010: Nothing standing out so far, other than maybe Murray and Nadal splitting two Major matches. Maybe a future rivalry is just heating up given the similar age, top 5 status and recent Major meetings.
tennisplayer666
Banned
Name me one male rivalry that have met in more Major Finals than Federer and Nadal? How many do we expect them to meet in? Should it be held against Rafa that he didn't make Major Finals at 17 or 18 when Fed was 21-23? Should we slam Fed for not gracing Rafa with his presence at the last few Majors? Be happy we have a record 7 meetings, probably a record 9-10 by the time they finish. Some fans are never happy.
Ummm, why shouldn't we hold it against Rafa for not making those earlier finals when he is clearly so highly lauded for his great precociousness. If you earn such kudos then you have to live up to them. And who cares if there isn't a male rivalry that has matched Fedal, name me one other player that has been even close to 18/21 CONSECUTIVE SLAMS. You want to put Nadal in the same league has fed? You want to keep quoting the slam finals records? Then he has to live up to the standards. You can't on the one hand quote the slam finals records and leave out the fact that he failed to reach the majority of slams finals during Fed's prime. They go hand in hand fella.
A better question might be: Which other pair of players have met in 7 slam finals?
Edit:
Last time this happened, as I've just learned, was in 1919 to 1925, between Tilden and Johnston. But always at the same tournament: US Open.
Last edited:
TheTruth
G.O.A.T.
Some of those early dates between 2004-2007 aren't really legitimate. How many 18-20 year olds regularly make the finals of majors? In 2004 Nadal was 18 y.o. In 2006 he was 20. No way should he be expected to reach major finals consistently at that age. I can't think of one player who started dominating at 18 and maintained it. I know for a fact that Federer and Pete didn't.
If I remember correctly Fed didn't win his first major until he was 21, and Pete won his first at 19 and didn't win for 2-3 years. So it's not reasonable to expect Nadal to start doing what the unofficial "goats" haven't done either.
If I remember correctly Fed didn't win his first major until he was 21, and Pete won his first at 19 and didn't win for 2-3 years. So it's not reasonable to expect Nadal to start doing what the unofficial "goats" haven't done either.
Justin Side
Hall of Fame
That's crazy if it's true. 7 straight Finals meetings at one Major and 0 meetings at the other 3 Major Finals. That'll never happen again.
It was called the US National Championships back then. Tilden lost the 1919 final to Johnston and beat him in the next 6 finals (he had also reached the final in 1918 losing to Lindley Murray).
2004 maybe not, but in 2005 he and roger each won a total of 11 titles. Borg, Hingis, Seles were all playing top form at an early age, Nadal is one of them. You can't compare Nadal to Fed or Sampras to same age. Each player thrive at certain age. And even the peak and valley throughout their career vary too. Nadal's future is only speculating...you don't give out credit when it never happened. As I have mentioned countless of time about Wilander, Mac, Seles, Hingis all stop winning in their early career. Nadal may not even win another slam. As painful as it sound, it's plausible.
tennisplayer666
Banned
Actually something better to consider is that before this year, every time Rafa made a final Fed was there. The converse is not true. So the reason for so many meetings is more due to Fed than Rafa. With the majority of course being on clay as per usual.
Correct. For anyone who hadn't watched tennis, one can assume they both are one dimensional b/c they played so much on clay. But in reality, it's Nadal that is one dimensional.
lendl is also ahead of nadal in the number of times he wore his ishtar hat.You should put that in your lists too.
It's ok...the list is enough to prove my point.
TheTruth
G.O.A.T.
The WTA is a different animal altogether, I don't think you can mix the two tours together willy nilly like that.
Borg would be the only reasonable one to consider and he won 11 before retiring at 25, so...
I don't think they should be compared period because of the age gap.
While it's true that Nadal's future is speculation, but there's no guarantee this (bolded) speculation is true either. He may not, but then again, he may. It's plausible that he can win more too, right?
MurrayisBEAST
Rookie
Agassi vs Courier
TheMusicLover
G.O.A.T.
Phil Taylor (the one and only REAL GOAT) vs. Raymond van Barneveld
darthpwner
Banned
Jesus vs Allah. Sorry if this offends anyone.
reversef
Hall of Fame
Nadal is an early bloomer, no doubt. You still can't expect a 19 year old to dominate on all surfaces. Players start to win on their best surface, keep working hard to improve their game and improve on the other surfaces. If you compare Nadal's game with what was his game in 2005, you will see a big difference.
kiki
Banned
New York Yankees against Boston Red Sox
Karpov against Kasparov
Fischer against Spassky
Lasker against Capablanca
And in tennis
Laver-Rosewall
Borg-Connors
Connors-McEnroe
Nastase-Smith
Nadal-Federer
Clijsters-Henin
Serena-Henin
Serena-Clijsters
Seles-Graf
Sampras-Becker
Lendl-Wilander
Becker-Edberg
Rafter-Agassi
Evert-Navratilova
Sharapova-Serena
Laver and Rosewall, because of their speed and styles had unbelieveable rallies with many different varieties of shots within the rallies.
Rafter and Agassi had some incredible matches at Wimbledon with their contrasting serve and volleyer versus great returner/baseliner. Yet Rafter wasn't bad off the ground either and it made for some nice rallies.
Becker and Sampras were the ultimate in power serving and volleying. Beautiful to watch.
Loved to watch the rallies in a Borg-Connors match. Great speed, power, volleying.
McEnroe and Connors had some incredible matches. Connors the great power baseliner and super returner versus McEnroe, the great serve/volleyer, touch player. Many great matches at the US Open and Wimbledon. My personal favorite was the 1984 US Open semi.
Nadal and Federer is of course the rivalry of the moment. My favorite match is the 2008 Wimbledon final. The court coverage of both is fantastic which lead to great shots off of seeming winners.
I share it, but I miss the Mc-Borg and Mc-Ivan rivalry, as well as Pete vs André.The rest is ok and what a pitty we could not have a Laver vs Borg kind of rivalry¡¡
Alejandro D
Semi-Pro
That's not a rivalry but an alliance. Like Popeye and spinach.
TheTruth
G.O.A.T.
Not really. Fed being in his prime means Nadal couldn't have been in his prime. Like Justin Side said, Fed at 22-24 means Nadal at 17-19. Regardless of how much game you have a person still needs experience and maturity.
The real shame is that they're not closer in age so that we could make valid comparisons, but the age difference is too great, imo.
What many don't consider is that Nadal and Fed are not contempories, Nadal has just gotten himself into the conversation with his play and results.
Maybe someone else knows, but has there ever been a rivalry occurring simultaneously when one person was that much younger than the other person? I can't think of any, but there's some historians on the board who may know.
TheTruth
G.O.A.T.
Maybe you can answer the question.
Has there ever been such a rivalry as Nadal and Fed, where one is almost 5 years younger and they have played so many times?
Pete and Andre were close in age. Fed and Nalby are also close in age.
I think it's amazing Rafa is even in the conversation as far as being a rival for Fed. It's unreal.
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