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It's no rivalry, Nadal's dominance over Federer is absolute

In 11 matches since 2008, Nadal has lost to Federer just twice. Imagine just for a moment that the duo first met in 2008… would we still be calling it a rivalry?

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Ashish Magotra|Jun 06, 2011, 16:44:58 IST
What makes a great rivalry? Good players, fierce matches, the best settings, and ability to polarise opinion… all of this and more. But most importantly, it is the ability to draw people to the ground in anticipation of a result that is unpredictable.Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are said to be among tennis's all-time great rivals -- there's even have a Wikipedia page dedicated to the rivalry. But is it really so? Both have faced off 25 times now and Rafa has won 17 of them, while Roger 8. But increasingly, this fight is being dominated by the Spaniard to such an extent that the unpredictability of the encounters has petered out completely. The win at the French Open on Sunday was only an affirmation of the fact. Clearly, the duo was (note the past tense) part of something great. Not any more.The numbers just don’t add up. At 17-8, in Nadal’s favour, over the length of their careers, it still seems respectable when you consider that the Swiss star has lost most of his matches on clay. But when you take into account the results since 2008, you can understand the helplessness that Federer feels each time he takes the court against Nadal. The mental anguish must be unbearable.In 11 matches since 2008, Nadal has lost to Federer just twice. Imagine just for a moment that the duo first met in 2008… would we still be calling it a rivalry? Honestly, at this point, to Nadal it’s domination while the world is trying it’s best to make it seem like a rivalry. After all, nothing’s more boring than a sport that’s dominated by one individual.[caption id="attachment_21186" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="In 11 matches since 2008, Nadal has lost to Federer just twice. Image: Vincent Kessler/Reuters."][/caption]The marketing men at ATP are in the business of selling an idea and they seem to be doing a pretty good job. The question, however, is how much longer will they be able to keep the façade up.Out of the 9 wins that Nadal has had over the last three years, three have been on hard courts (including the 2009 Australian Open) and one of grass (the 2009 Wimbledon title). So the Spaniard is not just doing the damage on clay – he’s evolving and has left Federer standing as still as statue.This is not to say that Federer isn’t any good. That would be an extremely harsh thing to say to a man who has won 16 Grand Slam titles. He’s very good but when he comes up against Nadal, he seems lost. He’s tried different tactics and coaches but nothing seems to work. The ball just keeps coming back.To Federer and his unbeatable alter ego, this must be hard to fathom. He stood atop the world unchallenged for 237 weeks, then he lost his number one ranking and now just his pride remains. The rivalry has long since morphed into domination.When you think of rivalries, you think of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi (Sampras, 20-14), John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors (McEnroe, 20-14) and Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert (Martina, 43-37). There are more but notice how the win-loss records are pretty even. The Nadal-Federer rivalry has lost that battle and right now, it’s skewered completely in the Spaniards favour.In stark contrast, the Nadal-Djokovic ‘rivalry’ seems much more hard-fought. At 16-11, Nadal still leads but given Djokovic’s current form, it might just get closer very quickly. There’s a strong case that tennis’s best current rivalry is not Rafa-Federer but the one between the Serb and the Spaniard.With Wimbledon just around the corner, we are in for some exciting times indeed. Nadal's record against Federer since 2008
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First Published:Jun 06, 2011, 16:44:06 IST
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