The tennis rivalry between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal is considered one of the greatest in the history of sport.10 Defining Rivalries In ATP History, ATP Federer and Nadal played each other 40 times, with Nadal leading 24–16 overall, including 14–10 in finals.
Of their 40 matches, 20 were on hardcourts, 16 on clay, and 4 on grass. Nadal leads on clay (14–2), while Federer leads on grass (3–1) and hard court (11–9). A total of 14 matches were at the majors, with Nadal leading 10–4. Nadal leads 6–0 at the French Open and 3–1 at the Australian Open, while Federer leads 3–1 at Wimbledon. On several occasions, they were a match away from meeting at the US Open, but were denied each time. They are tied in five-set encounters at 3–3. Nadal outplayed Federer for most of their rivalry, winning 23 of their first 33 matches from 2004–2014. However, Federer outplayed Nadal during the final stretch from 2015–2019, winning 6 of their last 7 matches.
Nadal ranks second and Federer ranks third on the men's all-time list for the most major singles titles, with 22 and 20 titles respectively. Their rival Novak Djokovic ranks first with 24 titles. The pair hold numerous other records between them. During a stretch of 23 majors from the 2005 French Open to the 2010 US Open, the pair won all but two of these events, including eleven consecutively. They won a further six consecutive majors between the 2017 Australian Open to the 2018 French Open. They are the only pair of men to have finished six consecutive calendar years as the top two ranked players on the ATP Tour, which they did from 2005 to 2010, and for a seventh time in 2017. This includes a record 211 consecutive weeks sharing the top two rankings from July 2005 to August 2009.
As tournament seedings are based on rankings, with the top two seeds placed on opposite sides of the draw, 24 of Nadal and Federer's 40 matches were in tournament finals, including a shared all-time record nine major finals (equalled only by Nadal and Novak Djokovic) and 12 Masters finals. Another ten were semifinals with only three taking place before the quarterfinal stage.
From 2006 to 2008, they contested every French Open and Wimbledon final. Their 2008 Wimbledon final was lauded as the greatest match ever by many long-time tennis analysts. Their 2017 Australian Open final was one of the most highly anticipated matches in tennis history, in part due to the relevance within popular discussions on their placement in greatest-of-all-time listings, coupled with the fact that they were both already in their 30s. Other matches considered particularly notable include the 2005 Miami Open final, 2006 Italian Open final, 2007 Wimbledon final, and 2009 Australian Open final, all of which went to five sets.
Their first match was at the 2004 Miami Open, which Nadal won in straight sets. Their last match was in the semifinals of the 2019 Wimbledon Championships, which Federer won in four sets.
History 2004: Miami Federer and Nadal played their first match in March 2004 at the third round of the Miami Masters.Federer-Nadal 10 Year Rivalry Archived from the original on 28 March 2014 Nadal, only 17 years old and ranked No. 34, surprised many by beating the then No. 1 in straight sets.
2005: Miami, French Open In 2005, Federer and Nadal played each other twice and each won one.
Their second meeting was again in Miami, but this time in the best-of-five-sets final. Federer recovered from a two-set deficit and a break down in the third set to win in five sets.
They played again two months later in the semifinals of the French Open, which was their first match on clay. Nadal defeated Federer in four sets en route to his first major title. By the end of 2005, Nadal led their head-to-head record at 2–1.
2006: Dubai, Monte Carlo, Rome, French Open, Wimbledon, Masters Cup
In 2006, Nadal and Federer faced each other in six matches.
Nadal won the first four, beginning with the Dubai final in February played on hard court. This was Federer's first loss of the year and ended his Open Era record of 56 consecutive wins on hard courts.
The clay season ensued, and Nadal continued his dominance on clay, defeating Federer in the finals of the Monte Carlo Masters, the Rome Masters, and the French Open, in their first major final. Federer won the first set quickly, but Nadal fought back and took the next three sets to capture his second French Open title. In the Rome final, Federer held two championship points on Nadal's serve at 5–6 in the fifth set, but failed to convert. Federer then led 5–3 in the fifth-set tiebreaker, but Nadal won the next four points to claim the title. At five hours and five minutes, this is the longest match Federer and Nadal have ever contested.
They faced off again a month later in the final of Wimbledon, which was their first meeting on grass. Federer won in four sets to capture his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title with two sets going to tiebreakers.
They did not meet again until the semifinals of the year-end Masters Cup. Federer won in straight sets, en route to his third Masters Cup title in four years. At year's end, Nadal's career head-to-head advantage had risen to 6–3.
2007: Monte Carlo, Hamburg, French Open, Wimbledon, Masters Cup
Nadal and Federer faced each other five times in 2007, and Federer won three of their matches.
For the second straight year, Federer and Nadal played in three finals on clay. Nadal won the first meeting in straight sets, winning his third consecutive Monte Carlo title. A few weeks later they met at the Hamburg Masters, where Federer defeated Nadal for the first time on clay, ending Nadal's Open Era record 81-match winning streak on clay.
Their next encounter was the French Open final, and Nadal won their much-anticipated rematch in four sets, capturing his third consecutive French Open title.
Their last two meetings in 2007 were also a repeat of 2006: the final of Wimbledon and the semifinal of the Masters Cup. Once again, Federer won both matches, though their Wimbledon final lasted five sets, in a match which was almost universally praised as the greatest Wimbledon final since Borg–McEnroe in 1980.
At the end of the year, on the other hand, their Masters Cup match was the shortest match of their rivalry, lasting less than an hour. By the end of the year Federer narrowed his head-to-head deficit, with the record standing at 8–6 in Nadal's favour.
2008: Monte Carlo, Hamburg, French Open, Wimbledon Federer and Nadal played four times in 2008, and Nadal won all four times, extending his career advantage to 12–6.
For the third straight year, they played in three finals during the clay-court season. Nadal defeated Federer in Monte Carlo for the third straight year, capturing his Open-Era-record fourth consecutive title there. A few weeks later Nadal avenged his only clay-court loss to Federer by defeating him in three sets for his first Hamburg Masters title. Federer had double-break leads in the first sets of both Monte Carlo and Hamburg, but could not close out the sets.
Also for the third straight year, they played in the final of the French Open. Nadal won his fourth consecutive French Open title, by a score of 6–1, 6–3, 6–0. The scoreline puts the match among the most one-sided in Grand Slam finals history.
Nadal and Federer also met in the final of Wimbledon for the third straight year, in the most anticipated match of their rivalry. Amidst rain delays, they played what was then the longest final in Wimbledon history (4 hours and 48 minutes), and Nadal captured the title, winning a fifth set that finished in near darkness. This match broke Federer's Open-Era-record 65-match winning streak on grass, which had spanned more than five years.
2009: Australian Open, Madrid
Federer and Nadal played each other only twice in 2009, splitting their matches.
Both players began the year strong, reaching the final of the Australian Open. This was the first hard-court Major final for Nadal, but Federer was undefeated in eight hard-court Major finals (five US Open, three Australian). The final was long (4 hours and 23 minutes) and competitive in the first four sets, with Nadal pulling away decisively in the fifth set to secure his first hard-court championship.
On clay, Federer rebounded against Nadal at the Madrid Masters, their first match in Spain, defeating him in the final in straight sets. This was a pivotal match because it broke Nadal's five-match winning streak against Federer. The victory by Federer also ended Nadal's 33-match winning streak on clay and foreshadowed Federer's historic victory at that year's French Open, which completed his Career Grand Slam. At year's end, their head-to-head record concluded at 13–7 in Nadal's favour.
2010: Madrid, World Tour Finals In 2010, Federer and Nadal played twice, with Nadal winning the first and Federer winning the second match.
The two met on clay in the final of the Madrid Open, one year after their last match. This time, in a rematch of last year's Madrid Open Final, Nadal defeated Federer in straight sets.
They then met on an indoor hard court in the final of the World Tour Finals, marking their third meeting at the year-end championships and their first ever meeting in the finals. Federer continued his indoor dominance against Nadal, winning in three sets. This victory gave Federer a record-tying fifth title at the year-end tournament.
2011: Miami, Madrid, French Open, World Tour Finals Federer and Nadal played four singles matches, with Nadal winning the first three matches and Federer winning the last match. Their lone doubles match was at Indian Wells. Federer, partnering with Stan Wawrinka, defeated Nadal and Marc López in the semifinals.
In their first singles match that year, which took place during the early hard-court season, the two met in the semifinals of the Miami Masters, where Nadal won in straight sets.
They then met on clay in the semifinals at the Madrid Open, and Nadal won in three sets. Later in the clay season, they met in the final of the French Open, their first Grand Slam tournament meeting since the 2009 Australian Open final. Although it was a competitive match, Nadal again defeated Federer in four sets to win his tenth Grand Slam title and sixth French Open crown. This denied Federer an opportunity to become the first man in the Open Era to have won all four Grand Slam tournaments twice.
Their final meeting of the year came in the round-robin stage of the World Tour Finals. Their match, a rematch of the previous year's final, saw Federer win a lopsided match in straight sets.
2012: Australian Open, Indian Wells
Federer and Nadal met twice in 2012, both times in the early hard-court season, splitting their matches. They first met during 2012 in the semifinal at the Australian Open. Federer was leading by a set but trailed 2–5 in the second set, before a 10-minute fireworks delay due to the celebrations of Australia Day. After the delay, Nadal came back to win in four sets, improving his hard-court record over Federer.
They next met in the semifinal at Indian Wells, where Federer won the match in straight sets en route to claiming his fourth title at that tournament.
2013: Indian Wells, Rome, Cincinnati, World Tour Finals Federer and Nadal met four times in 2013 with Nadal prevailing on every occasion.
Federer and Nadal met for the first time in the quarterfinals of the Indian Wells Masters. It was the earliest stage the pair had met at within a tournament since 2004, due to their top seedings for most of the intervening years. Nadal won in straight sets.
On 1 April, by winning the Miami Masters, Andy Murray passed Federer in the ATP rankings for second place. This marked the first time since 10 November 2003 that neither Federer nor Nadal was ranked in the ATP top 2 (Novak Djokovic had taken the number 1 spot in 2011), a span of an unprecedented 490 weeks.