The picture went around the world. Although his wife was heavily pregnant at home, Rafael Nadal fulfilled Roger Federer’s last wish as an active tennis player in September 2022. He flew to London specifically to play doubles with the Swiss at the Laver Cup – at his retirement as a professional athlete. The image of the two superstars sitting next to each other in tears went around the world.
If Rafael Nadal hadn’t appeared on the scene a few years after he climbed the tennis throne himself, Roger Federer would most likely have more than 20 Grand Slam titles to his name. But his career would also be poorer in many emotions. Nadal has made the maestro, who for a time hovered untouchable above all others, more human.
Respect and friendship
As different as the two were on the pitch – here the brute warrior from Mallorca, there the unsurpassed elegance of the filigree technician from Basel – they were just as similar off it. Well-educated, always polite and decent, respectful, but also ambitious and ready to subordinate almost anything to success. At the beginning it was probably the common clothing supplier that brought the two together, but as time went on it became more and more the common experiences that they shared with each other. Probably no one else could understand the emotions in these many big finals as well as their biggest rival.
Nadal, a right-hander in “normal” life, was a fearful opponent for Federer for a long time. Nobody was as unpleasant for him to play as the tireless left-hander with the special spin in his balls. But the Swiss accepted the challenge; it really fueled his ambition. On the other hand, Nadal never lost respect for his predecessor as number 1, even during longer winning streaks.
To the benefit of both
Thanks to the friendship between them, which became clearer and longer, they both became even more popular. The mostly younger Nadal fans, for whom Federer was often a bit too polished and perfect, developed more respect for him. And the Federer lovers, who were hostile to the unwanted upstart Nadal, came to the conclusion that he couldn’t be so bad after all. Nadal earned a lot of sympathy when he hugged and comforted the crying Federer after his defeat in the 2009 Australian Open final.
Novak Djokovic, who disrupted this harmony at the top of world tennis, suffered the most. The Federer and Nadal fans mostly banded together against the Serb, who was not afraid to make his ambitions very clear and loud. Some found this disrespectful and lacking in style – something Federer or Nadal would never have done.
Role models for the next generation
With their longevity, which was particularly surprising for the injury-prone Spaniard, Nadal and Federer have shaped an era that will probably not exist for a long time and that tennis nostalgics mourn. But they also set an example that shows that even the biggest rivals on the pitch can respect each other and even become friends.
What was still unthinkable in the times of John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi or Boris Becker and Michael Stich, who downright hated each other, has become the norm for the new generation around Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. Along with countless wonderful matches, it is perhaps the most valuable legacy of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
(sda)