Roger Federer Tennis

The Federer vs Nadal rivalry is maybe the biggest and most fascinating one men's tennis has ever seen. It is a tennis match made in heaven and a rivalry of contrasts. Federer plays right handed while Nadal plays left handed. Federer is everything that is beautiful and graceful, while Nadal is unorthodox and raw. Federer's is technically very sound, his strokes looks like it was copied from the tennis handbook. The Federer serve and Federer forehand is some of the best shots in the sport. Nadal on the other hand has a forehand that ends somewhere over his left shoulder, and he hits with ridiculous amounts of spin. Nadal is also a counter puncher, while Federer plays attacking tennis.

Federer looks calm on the court, and prefers to make his racquet do the talking, while Nadal likes to be in his opponents face and intimidate. They have played some incredible matches, one of which was in the Wimbledon final of 2008, which many tennis experts call the greatest tennis match of all time. Nadal won that match 9-7 in the fifth set. They have played two other five set macthes in grand slams, in the Wimbledon final of 2007, and at the Australian Open final of 2009. Nadal leads Federer 5-2 in grand slam meetings, while he leads the head-to-head meetings overall 13-7. Here is the matches they have played, from the first meeting to the last, the winner, the score, and the surface they played on:

1. Nadal 6-3, 6-3 (Clay)

2. Federer 2-6 6-7(4) 7-6(5) 6-3 6-1 (hard)
3. Nadal 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-3 (clay)
4. Nadal 2-6 6-4 6-4 (hard)
5. Nadal 6-2 6-7(2) 6-3 7-6(5) (clay)
6. Nadal 6-7(0) 7-6(5) 6-4 2-6 7-6(5) (clay)
7. Nadal 1-6 6-1 6-4 7-6(4) (clay)
8. Federer 6-0 7-6(5) 6-7(2) 6-3 (grass)
9. Federer 6-4 7-5 (hard)
10. Nadal 6-4 6-4 (clay)
11. Federer 2-6 6-2 6-0 (clay)
12. Nadal 6-3 4-6 6-3 6-4 (clay)
13. Federer 7-6(7) 4-6 7-6(3) 2-6 6-2 (grass)
14. Federer 6-4 6-1 (hard)
15. Nadal 7-5 7-5 (clay)
16. Nadal 7-5 6-7(3) 6-3 (clay)
17. Nadal 6-1 6-3 6-0 (clay)
18. Nadal 6-4 6-4 6-7(5) 6-7(8) 9-7 (grass)
19. Nadal 7-5 3-6 7-6(3) 3-6 6-2 (hard)
20. Federer 6-4, 6-4 (clay)

Federer won his first Australian Open tennis tournament in 2004, his first of 4 titles. In 2005 he lost to Russian Marat Safin in an epic tennis match, also 9-7 in the fifth set. He won the title in 2006 and 2007, and in 2008 he lost to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals when he had mononucleosis. Then in 2009 he lost in a heart breaking final against his nemesis Nadal, after having lost the Wimbledon crown to the same man in the previous year. After that loss Federer looked like a broken man, but he came back in true champion style when he won the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year. This year he continued his amazing career by winning his fourth Australian Open title. It was his 16th grand slam title, and he equalled Andre Agassi's 4 Australian Open titles in the process. Here is Federer's Australian Open tennis tournament results since he first won the title:

2004: F Safin 7-6(3), 6-4, 6-2

2005: SF Safin 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 6-7(6), 7-9

2006: F Baghdatis 5-7, 7-5, 6-0, 6-2

2007: F Gonzalez 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-4

2008: SF Djokovic 5-7, 3-6, 6-7(5)

2009: F Nadal 5-7, 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-3, 2-6

2010: F Murray 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(11)

Clay is Federer's worst surface, but he is still one of the best clay court players of all time. It doesn't help him that he is playing in the era of Nadal, who many considers to be the greatest clay court player ever. He lost to Nadal in the French Open tennis tournament on 4 occasions, once in the semi-finals and 3 times in the final. It looked like this would be the one grand slam title that would always allude him, and leave a hole in his legacy. But in 2009 he finally made the breakthrough, when he took advantage of the fact that Nadal was upset in the earlier rounds. It was a historical win, as he became only the the second man in the open era together with Andre Agassi to complete the career slam. Here is Federer's results at the French Open tennis tournament since he first made the semi-finals:

2005: SF Nadal 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6

2006: F Nadal 6-1, 1-6, 4-6, 6-7(4)

2007: F Nadal 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6

2008: F Nadal 1-6, 3-6, 0-6

2009: F Soderling 6-1, 7-6(1), 6-4

Federer has won the Wimbledon tennis tournament 6 times already, one short of Pete Sampras' record of 7 titles. He also equalled Bjorn Borg's record of winning 5 consecutive Wimbledon titles from 2003-2007. Grass is arguably Federer's best surface, as he has won more grand slams at Wimbledon than at any other grand slam. Since he first won Wimbledon in 2003, he only lost one match there, which was in the Wimbledon final of 2008. Federer fell ill with mononucleosis at the beginning of 2008, which caused his career to slump throughout 2008. He still lost to Nadal in what is considered to be the best match ever by many in the Wimbledon final of 2008, 9-7 in the fifth set. In 2009 he came back however to win his 6th Wimbledon title and thereby breaking Sampras' all time grand slam record of 14 grand slam titles. It was the perfect stage for achieving this all important record, and it was where it all started for Federer. Here are the finals that Federer has been involved in at the Wimbledon tennis tournament:

2003: F Philippousis 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-6(3)

2004: F Roddick 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(3), 6-4

2005: F Roddick 6-2, 7-6(2), 6-4

2006: F Nadal 6-0, 7-6(5), 6-7(2), 6-3

2007: F Nadal 7-6(7), 4-6, 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-2

2008: F Nadal 4-6, 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(8), 7-9

2009: F Roddick 5-7, 7-6(6), 7-6(5), 3-6, 16-14

The US Open tennis tournament is the final grand slam of the year, and one of Federer's favourites. He won the title there 5 consecutive years, a feat no one else in the open era could achieve. Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors won the title 5 times each, but they didn't win it consecutively. Federer will surely become the first man to win the title 6 times as well. In 2009 he lost at the US Open for the first time in 6 years against Juan Martin Del Potro, in another epic tennis match that lasted 5 sets. Federer favours the faster hard courts of the US Open, which is faster than the Australian Open hard courts. It suits his attacking game better, and he has given some of the best players in the world severe beat downs there over the years. Here is his results at the US Open tennis tournament since he first won the title there in 2004:

2004: F Lleyton Hewitt 6-0, 7-6(3), 6-0

2005: F Andre Agassi 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-1

2006: F Andy Roddick 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1

2007: F Novak Djokovic 7-6(4), 7-6(2), 6-4

2008: F Andy Murray 6-2, 7-5, 6-2

2009: F Jaun Martin del Potro 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-7(4), 2-6

Federer is the greatest tennis player of all time, and also the greatest grand slam tennis player of all time. Here is what he has achieved in grand slam tennis so far:

• He has won the most grand slam titles in history, 16, which is 2 more than Sampras.
• He has completed the career slam.
• He has won 5 consecutive grand slam titles of two different grand slam, something no one has ever achieved.
• He has made 23 consecutive grand slam semi-finals.
• He has made 18 of the last 19 grand slam finals.
• He has made all 4 grand slam finals in a year on 3 occasions.
• He has won 16 grand slam titles in the span of 27 grand slams.

And he is not done yet. He is 28 years old and on top of his game. Who knows how many more grand slam titles he will still rack up. He started this year by winning the Australian Open, and the calender year grand slam is not out of the question. The only man to ever accomplish that feat was Rod Laver, in an era that was much less competitive than the current era. If Federer achieves this feat it would be like finding the holy grail of tennis, but if he does not he still will probably still go down as the greatest to ever play the game.