New Delhi: Any time the King of Grass and the King of Clay face each other across the net, the anticipation itself sets the fans’ hearts racing. This time, as Roger Federer prepares to take on Rafael Nadal in the French Open semi-finals, the surface will obviously suit the King of Clay.
Nadal is coming off a series of injuries while Federer is playing at Roland Garros after a four year-break — he missed the 2016 event due to a back injury, and then skipped the past two clay-court Grand Slams.
Still, whenever Nadal and Federer, currently ranked No.2 and No.3 in the world respectively, have played each other, they’ve produced a string of epics, leading their rivalry to be rated as one of the greatest that tennis has ever witnessed.
While Nadal has managed to dethrone Federer at Wimbledon, Federer has not managed to do the same to Nadal at Roland Garros. In 2017, Nadal exhibited his prowess on clay by attaining ‘La Decima’, his record 10th Roland Garros title.
Overall, Federer has the most Grand Slam singles titles for a man in history, winning 20, of which just one has come at Roland Garros (2009). Nadal is three Grand Slam titles behind him, with 11 French Opens among his tally of 17.
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Federer at Roland Garros
It’s not that Feder plays badly at Roland Garros; just that Nadal plays better.
Federer has made it to the French Open final five times, losing to Nadal in four of those five. The one time he did win the tournament was against Robin Soderling, after Nadal was shockingly knocked out in the early stages of the 2009 event.
Nadal and Federer have played each other five times at Roland Garros, four times in the final and once in the semi-final. Nadal has won all five times.
However, if Federer does manage to reverse history and beat Nadal to reach the final this time, he better watch out — neither of the players who have beaten Nadal at the French Open have gone on to win the title. Soderling, as mentioned above, lost to Federer in 2009, while in 2015, Novak Djokovic, who beat Nadal in the quarter-finals, then lost to Stanislas Wawrinka in the final.
Overall, Nadal and Federer have met on clay 15 times, including the French Open. Federer has won just two of these matches.
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Nadal at Roland Garros
In 14 appearances at Roland Garros, Nadal has won 11 titles — tied with Margaret Court for winning the same Grand Slam title most number of time (Court had won the Australian Open). So, if he does beat Federer Friday, he could break that record in Sunday’s final.
With inputs by Revathi Krishnan