'It's always a treat for us to watch Roger Federer and Nadal play', says sport legend

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, symbols of a timeless rivalry, capable of pitting them against each other at any time, in any statistic, at the center of any debate. Although Roger is still in the pits and has not played an official match of the circuit since the semi-final in Melbourne against future champion Novak Djokovic, his spirit continues to hover even in the very present, especially when it comes to Rafa (remember that the two champions are now paired at 20 slams each after the Majorcan's recent victory in Paris) Returning to the news, an ATP study has produced a report in which numerous statistics concerning the two tennis players are listed and one of which tells about their performance in the long exchanges during a match. As could be expected, the survey reported numbers that in this specific field reward Rafa, who has always been more at ease when the exchange gets longer or, if we want to reverse the perspective, more unable than the Swiss colleague to resolve a point in the very first shots. Specifically, only the data extracted from the statistics of the 2019 Master 1000 tournaments that took place on the main fields, i.e. those equipped with the Hawk-Eye system, and only the exchanges with a number greater than 9 strokes were considered.

Sindhu on Federer-Nadal rivalry

Meanwhile, the Indian badminton superstar PV Sindhu, who has been preparing for the upcoming Badminton Asia Tour in January 2021, got quizzed regarding her choice between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. She depicted that both of the tennis greats are legends on their own and have inspired athletes like herself. "I believe both Roger and Rafael are legends in their own way and definitely love to see both of them play. I can’t just choose one from both but I think each of them has a different style of play and different game so I would say, both are legends," Sindhu said. "I think it’s the greatest rivalry not only in tennis but also globally because they are true champions and they have always inspired us in many ways and I would say it is always a treat for us to watch them play. I was really young then in 2004 in Miami when Nadal won against the then no 1 Federer. When I saw that it inspired me a lot in 2004 when Nadal won against the then world no 1. So, the closest of that for me would be when I won against the Olympic champion Li Xuerui in China Masters in 2012. So yeah, that was the closest for me," she said.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3eCTjzL