Two months after the heroic Australian Open final, sports fans are getting what they want again with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to battle each other at Indian Wells in the fourth round on Wednesday.
Federer will be going for a hat trick over Nadal at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in a rematch from the classic Australian Open final between the two great rivals. The two players haven’t battled each other this early at a tournament since 2004.
Both legends remarkably made it to this year’s AO final after having been out of the game for the last half of 2016, in a tantalizing round that had all of sport excited about the outcome. The AO champ also won the time before that, in 2015 at Basel. Will a third time be the charm?
Not if the great fighter Rafael Nadal can help it. Both players were out due to injuries (Federer: knee and Rafa: wrist) but hit the ground running when they reached Melbourne at the beginning of the year. They defeated several top-10 opponents and powered through grueling five-setters to get to the Melbourne final, all along the way, utilizing their separate styles and showed the next gens that there was still plenty of juice left in the engine. Federer was the more inspired player in the fifth set of that final, taking the title with an streak of five games in a row.
Since the Australian final stunner, Federer has shown more wear while Nadal has perhaps grown in strength. The 35 year-old went out in a second round shocker at Dubai last month, while the 30 year-old beat Nick Kyrgios to make it to the final in the Masters 500 event in Mexico, running out of steam in the decider against Sam Querrey. However, both elder statesmen have each played in vintage, resilient form since arriving in Palm Springs, CA for one of their favorite tournaments.
On even footing at Indian Wells
Both players own multiple BNP Paribas titles, the Swiss has four while the Spaniard has three. If Rafa goes all the way in the tourney, he will match Fed’s record here. Due to their lower rankings (#10-Fed and #6-Rafa) because of their time off last year, this is the earliest they have met in a tournament since their first encounter in 2004, a match that reportedly shook up Federer after losing to the upstart left-hander in Miami, at the start of the Swiss Maestro’s dominant surge.
In their four Indian Wells matches, the score is even. When Federer won the 2012 title, he beat Nadal in the semis with straight sets, but his friendly nemesis repaid the favor by reversing the outcome the next year, in the quarters, also in straight sets. But the rivalry doesn’t end there, it’s the opposite when it comes to their doubles record at the tourney. In 2004, Nadal teamed up with Tommy Robredo to beat Federer and Yves Allegro. Perhaps a better partnership this time around, the Swiss teamed up with his compatriot Stan Wawrinka to beat Nadal and his new partner Mark Lopez in 2011.
In terms of overall head-to-head, the 14-time grand slam champ has the advantage. Even with the Australian Open two months ago, Nadal still leads in their 35 matches (23-12) so far and ATP Masters 1000 matchups (12-4). Although the Majorcan native owns a slight advantage in their head-to-head on hard courts (9-8), he hasn’t achieved a victory on the surface since his 2014 win at Doha, a three year draught.
Mutual admiration society
Stats aside, their rivalry is so much more. A match between the two legends is always an exciting story that transcends the sport they play. When the two get together to compete, or support each other’s projects, or even laugh while making a video, it generates media attention. Each has a very distinctive, singular style of play that both contrasts and motivates the other player. Federer is right-handed, Nadal is a lefty. Federer is elegant cool, Nadal is a gutsy pirate. Federer is the Swiss Maestro who retains the grass-court record (along with Sampras) at the lofty halls of Wimbledon, Nadal is the brash “king of clay” (9 French Open titles).
Charlie Eccleshare wrote in The Telegraph, “The pair have taken tennis to new heights.”
Spokesmen for their sport, the two thirty-somethings have defined tennis for the past thirteen years. Perhaps once frustrated rivals, they have now developed a mutually admiring friendship.
“He has the talent to do very difficult things that look easy,” Nadal said about his great rival, after his third round match victory over Fernando Verdasco.
Like tennis fans, Roger Federer is also looking forward to their outing.
“That’s why I came here, to play against guys like Rafa. Now we have it. I’m going to be excited now, I’d better be excited now otherwise I came for the wrong reasons,” the #10 ranked player said, according to Sky Sports. “So regardless of Australia, winning or losing, I’m going to try to go out there and try to play free again. I think it’s really important.”
Even French Open champion Garbine Muguruza couldn’t help talking about such a highly anticipated contest. “I think everybody is going to watch that match,” she said. “Everybody likes Rafa. Everybody likes Roger. It’s history over there.”
Next: Serena Williams pulls out of masters tournaments due to knee
The fourth round setup between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will be the 36th time they face each other in a professional tournament, with the winner going on to meet Novak Djokovic assuming he gets through his encounter with Australian hot shot Nick Kyrgios, in the next round of the “draw of death” at the PNB Paribas Masters 1000.