"It’s a little more of a chess match": Rafael Nadal highlights what made rivalry with Roger Federer attractive for tennis fans

Spain’s legendary tennis star Rafael Nadal has opened up about his great rivalry with the former world number one Roger Federer. Both players are amongst two of the greatest players in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category in the Open era.

Federer retired from the sport in September 2022 after struggling with fitness concerns. He finished his career with 20 Grand Slam titles. He was the first player in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category in the Open era to win more than 15 Grand Slams. He was also the first to win 20 major titles in his illustrious career.

On the other hand, Nadal retired in late 2024 after taking part in the Davis Cup. He finished his career with 22 Grand Slam titles. Both players competed 40 times in professional tennis, where Nadal had a clear advantage with 24 wins and 16 defeats. The legendary Spaniard has recently spoken in Andy Roddick’s Served podcast, where he talked about what made their rivalry so special. The former world number one was of the opinion that Federer did change his game a bit while playing against him in the later stages of his career and tried to play aggressively to counter his threat.

“I think with Roger the match, I think that's, in my opinion, why the rivalry with Roger was a little bit more attractive for the fans than Novak against me even if I played more times against Novak,” he said. “With Roger, I think the strategy was more clear. It’s a little more of a chess match. Everybody knows what’s going to happen, and everybody knows what the strategy is going to be. Then, of course, when he was playing very well, he beat me. When I was playing well, I beat him. At the end of his career, I think he made a step forward. He was playing much, much more aggressive. For me he was making some little mistakes against me at the beginning of his career when he was trying to play from his backhand again with topspin, so he gave me the chance to keep hitting forehands against his backhand. I was trying to kill his backhand all the time, and even if I had the chance to play the shot down the line, I was saying to myself, ‘Okay, I have to play the shot down the line. It's only for two reasons: One is because I go for the winner, or the other is because I need to put him away from that side to create more space.’ Honestly, in 2017, for a while, he was at the best level of his career.”