Okay With Rafa Gone, Andy's The One I'd Love To See The Most With That Cup. I Know It's Unlikely, Bit

Roger Federer waited for Rafael Nadal to walk off the Wimbledon Centre Court together after their last ever competitive match.

| Wimbledon Semi-Final 2019

These two... seriously

A few years ago Rafa did a feature on his website where he talked about some of the most important matches in his life. It was deleted when his website was updated but I’ve just found a copy of it!

Some highlights (all real quotes):

“In the semi-finals, I faced Federer, and it is true that I felt plethoric on clay… as true as the match seemed intimidating, I felt respect. I am not saying fear. Never. My start was explosive. I knew that Rogerio (as I friendly call him) was not used to hitting so high and would take a few games to get used to my lifting.” - RG 05

“Another final against Federer. I correct. It is never ‘another’, it is never ‘one more’. Every meeting is the first and the last, and this would be no exception: a victory of sweat and courage, with flashes of great tennis.” - Monte Carlo 06

“I jumped on to court in front of more than 15,000 people. I looked at my parents and then at Federer. I was ready, or that is what I thought. Roger gave me a real thrashing in the first set. He soon got 5-0 up, and showed tremendous solvency and serenity: drives along the line, a concluding, resolving backhand at the net.” “Federer is not only a champion, but also a gentleman and an elegant rival. He did not try to humiliate me, he did not draw blood. I don’t think he wanted to win like that against a frightened opponent who hardly put up any resistance. He wanted to win against Rafa Nadal.” - RG 06

“I know Federer beat me in the final, although as far as I am concerned, I played the best tennis of my career. Wimbledon was Rogerio’s garden, his private domain. He strolled around the court sweeping away any opponent who dared to tread on his grass with overwhelming superiority.” “The game that Fed-Ex develops on grass is… well, you know what I am talking about. I am not going to write an ode (he has got his own web for that, hasn’t he? ;-D) though sometimes I felt the impulse to stay there watching his technique.” “Roger, an extraordinary fellow with or without his racquet, spared me no praise in his declarations, congratulating me for a great match and addressing me a few words that consoled any twinge of disappointment, ‘you also deserved it.’” - Wimbledon 07

“I am not capable of putting into words what this victory meant to me. Maybe I need perspective, maybe I still haven’t taken it in. Since I came on to the professional circuit, even before his, I related the word ‘Wimbledon’ with 'Roger Federer’. It is something subconscious and automatic: the All England’s Club court is something like his garden.” “Nothing around me was important, time stopped, the voices faded and the stands were no more than mist. Roger and I were alone.” “I was aware that Roger and I had just played the best tennis match of all time; that I had just won the most prestigious tournament on the circuit; that… I had made my dream come true.” - Wimbledon 08

Spanish journalist asking why, after already having "won everything" Rafa is considering playing another year in 2024 after the injury break and "starting from zero" if necessary.

Rafa: "Well, not that I like to use that word - but in a way I feel strong enough to say this - i think it's not what I deserve, to finish like this. I have put enough effort into the whole of my career that I don't think the end of it should be today in a press conference."

Roger can 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Little musings on sports rivalry, federer, nadal and tennis:

Bit of a treat for fedal fans who don't have access to them gushing about each other in other languages, in this French interview Roger actually says he thinks his relationship with Rafa is one of the most unique and one-of-a-kind in his personal life. Simply because no other person has occupied so many diverging 'adjectifs' basically in his life. He agrees with the interviewer saying that only Rafa occupies this weird middle ground of being his biggest career 'adversary' who has, in a way, for 14 years stood between him and his career goals but also a kind of 'working partner' (in raising money for charities, promoting the sports, and sharing sponsorship events, etc) and most strangely, something he doesn't share with his other big rivals, also a friend.

Both Nadal and Federer have talked a lot about having such great respect for each other but in here I think it's the first time we can kind of get a full glimpse why because it appears Roger also finds it a bit bizzarre and doesn't know what to make of it in the beginning. He gives the perfect example by saying that Rafa is the only person in the world that he can call up to play an exhibition or raise money for charity with, even though he mentions Novak and Andy as his great rivals as well. This is because he knows for sure Rafa will show up just as he will when Rafa calls him. He talks about this strange thing that we've heard them mention in Laver Cup about how they've discovered how similar they actually are, in ways of thinking and approaching the game but completely different in anything else and that's why we see them enjoying Laver Cup so much. Because it's the only time that these 'contending adjectifs' sort of kinda blur together. Unrestricted by contending for titles on opposite sides, they can, for the first time, be completely open with each other, and realise that no one else is as big a fan of the sport as they are.

I think in a way what truly shows here is that both Roger and Rafa realise there's no one in the world that they can share this unique bond with because they are, in every sense of the word, the only two that can be each other's 'equals', they fostered their career growing up in the same era, and for decades were the only two dominating the game. That's why Roger has subtly mentioned in the past that when it comes to sensitive issues in tennis or his career, Rafa is the only person he can share it with and knows 100% that he'll understand and that he won't bertray him to anyone else. Similarly, whenever asked about crucial issues such as the politics of the game etc, Rafa has always been firmly consistent in making sure that him and Roger are standing together on the matter.

Being at the top is lonely.

Especially in individual sports such as tennis when so much is at stake within continuous periods of tournaments, winning and losing can become banal at some point because you know you only have yourself to keep yourself in control all the time, to win enough to have a career but to lose enough to still value the wins.

But the unique bond, this 'middle ground' of competitive sports that we don't see anywhere else in history, is perhaps what makes this era the golden age of tennis. Unlike Agassi or Sampras, who never really quite accepted the other at the top, Nadal and Federer fully embraced their 'duality'.

They recognised their matches as the best moments in their careers even when they oftentimes had to be at the losing side, they constantly used their rivalry to raise money for charity together, and most importantly, they want themselves to be remembered as each the halves that together made so much more than the sum of one.

There's no draws in tennis. But what made Federer and Nadal so great is, as Federer said, they would've been happy to accept a draw anyway, so long as it is each other on the opposite side of the net. Their love for the game and for the extraordinary magic that they knew they were creating together have trascended their will to simply win over each other.

Being at the top is lonely, but Federer and Nadal have discovered the professional sport's 'sweet spot' if you like. No matter how many battles or grand slams contended, they both knew that their bond and respect for each other will remain unchanged.

For the 2 greatest in histories, they get to make their own rules, because they know now that winning is so much better when you have someone to share it with.

"see u there" WE'RE GETTING A FEDAL REUNION

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