My favourites
Simple question:which of them am I inspired by more? It is obvious that Federer fits the bill for classic 'tennis wizard', but I have been inspired by, and always will admire, alongside Federer, Rafael Nadal:the ultimate 'overachiever' in the sport, because, he always was a claycourt master, keenly utilizing the peculiarities of the claycourt spins('topspin', the biggest of these, imparted to the ball when playing on clay) and willing to slog it out for entire tournaments, not just the crown jewel of them, the French Open(the dedicated page at Wikipedia, is here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Open), at which he is the all-time record holder in men's singles,14 titles(!),while Federer heads a similar list at Wimbledon(where he is the all-time record holder in men's singles,8 titles(each is highlighted on the respective Wikipedia pages:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wimbledon_Championships and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Open).
Coming back to my earlier point, not just has the claycourt maestro decoded the grasscourt enigma, winning in 2 years, 2008 & 2010, while Federer has won the French Open a single time, in 2009. Not to elevate Nadal while demeaning Federer over a small quibble [2 Wimbledons vs 1 French Open??] but the adjustments Nadal has made all his career long to excel on fast surfaces[hard courts and grass courts] easily trump any Federer might have had to make to win on clay, which would be non-existent for a good server anywhere [Nadal has won the Australian Open twice and the US Open 4 times, apart from the French Open 14 times and Wimbledon twice, while Federer has the sole French Open from 2009, the opponent he overcame in that final being Robin Soderling, from Sweden, who I would be hard pressed to list the major accomplishments of, meaning significant tournaments won, like Grand Slams or masters 1000 events]. In fact, I strongly feel watching any Grand Slam winner's journey to a title(even just the highlights) can help one appreciate the positives of that athlete in the overall tennis firmament, apart from an absorbing time at the tennis theatre[called YouTube🎾🎾🎾🎾🎾!]
All these years later, I feel happy Federer and Nadal have acquired the status of legendary rivals,https://edition.cnn.com/2023/07/05/sport/roger-federer-rafael-nadal-injury-spt-intl/index.html.
The recent CNN article is a fitting one to capture their individual sentiments. Here, for instance, is part of it:
Tennis great Roger Federer says he hopes his Rafael Nadal can retire from the sport “on his own terms” following the Spaniard’s recent struggles with injury.Nadal hasn’t played competitive tennis since injuring a hip muscle during his second-round Australian Open defeat by Mackenzie McDonald in January. The 22-time grand slam champion said in May that next season will be his last on the tour.
Federer was beset by injuries in the final years of his career, overcoming knee surgery once to return and win three more grand slams, before further injuries eventually got the better of him.
In the end, Federer was only fit enough to bring the curtain down on his remarkable career by playing doubles alongside Nadal at the Laver Cup in London and the Swiss superstar hopes his long-time rival and friend can be more competitive in his final year.
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