Rafael Nadal: "Roger Federer is one of the best clay‑court players of the history"

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal held the first two places in the ATP ranking continuously from July 2005 to August 2009 and are the only two men in tennis history to have finished 6 seasons in the first two places in the rankings. Federer was number 1 in the world for a record 237 consecutive weeks between February 2004 and August 2008.

From 2006 to 2017, the two rivals played four finals at the French Open, three at the Wimbledon Tournament and two at the Australian Open. Nadal has won six of these nine finals losing the first two in Wimbledon and the last in Australia. Four of these nine finals have reached the fifth set (Wimbledon 2007 and 2008 and Australian Open 2009 and 2017), moreover the 2008 Wimbledon final has been indicated by many as the most beautiful and exciting game in the history of tennis.

The Spanish champion firmly believes Federer is one of the gifted clay-courters in tennis. “Roger Federer is an amazing champion, too. He’s a fantastic player, a clay‑court player. A player who was able to play 2006, 2007, 2008, finals, then winning 2009. And then playing the final again in 2011. The semi-finals in 2005,” Nadal once said.

“I don’t see a lot of players that have been in all that final rounds of French Open in a row. So that says that Roger is one of the best clay‑court players of the history probably,” the ‘King of clay’ added. “My first challenger was on clay, my first satellite was on clay, the first player I beat was on clay. So clay came first,” Federer once shared.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3924I89