The game of tennis has seen many great rivalries and in the modern era, the Federer – Nadal Rivalry is considered to be the greatest and the finest rivalries among all the others. The meeting between these two legends is so often that there is hardly a month gone without both of them playing against each other at least ones. The greatness of any player is counted by playing the big games in the grand slams, which starts from the quarter-final levels and these two have been often found playing in all grand slam tournament semifinals, if not the finals. Although Nadal is leading this ten-year-old rivalry in the grand slam semis it is not that Federer is any lesser player.
Both Federer and Nadal are the only players, if paired together, have finished six consecutive calendar years at the top two ranks in the official ATP Rankings. This happened from 2005 till 2010. They both have shared 211 weeks at No. 1 and No. 2 from July 2005 till August 2009.
Federer Vs Nadal Head to Head Stats
Nadal is leading Federer currently with 23 out of 38 encounters they had on the clay courts. Nadal is trailing behind Federer 2-1 on grass courts. and on hard courts, Federer is Nadal leading by 11-9. However, Federer has a 5-1 lead over Nadal in the Indoor hard court games. Nadal is leading Federer by 8-6 in the outdoor hard court surfaces.
In the Grand slam tournaments too, Nadal has a significant lead over Federer till the latest data is updated. Here is how both of them have flared in grand slams.
Grand Slam Tournament Comparison
Australian Open – Nadal leads 3-1
French Open – Nadal leads 5-0
Wimbledon – Federer leads 2-1
US Open – Yet to play against each other
In Grand Slam Finals: Nadal leads 6-3
Overall: Nadal – 9; Federer 3
Tennis Masters Cup/ATP World Tour Finals Comparison
Tennis Masters Cup – Federer leads 2-0
ATP World Tour Finals – – Federer leads 2-1
Overall: Nadal – 1; Federer – 4
ATP Masters Series/ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Comparison
Miami Open – Draw 2-2
Indian Wells Masters – Federer leads 2-1
Monte-Carlo Masters – Nadal leads 3-0
Italian Open – Nadal leads 2-0
Hamburg Masters – Draw 1-1
Madrid Open – Nadal leads 2-1
Cincinnati Masters – Nadal leads 1-0
Shanghai Masters – Federer leads 1-0
Overall: Nadal – 1; Federer – 4
ATP International Series Gold/ATP World Tour 500 Series Comparison
Dubai Championship – Nadal leads 1-0
Swiss Indoors – Federer leads 1-0
Overall: Nadal – 1: Federer – 1
On Court and Off Court Relationship Between Federer and Nadal
They may be fierce rivals on the court, but they have always maintained a good and gracious relationship whether its on court or off the court. We know both of them are highly competitive and they do not give an inch while playing against each other, but at the same time they command huge respect for each other while playing the game as well. They do criticize each other’s game after a particular game is over in a press conference, but they have never hit each other ‘below the belt’.
In 2010 they both jointly organized ‘Match for Africa’ in Zurich, Switzerland and then in Madrid. The motive of these matches was for the benefit of children living in the African continent.