Federer vs. Nadal: The rivalry no one knows about
By: James Mason
Issue date: 7/13/07 Section: Sports
Originally published: 7/13/07 at 12:19 AM EST
Last update: 7/13/07 at 12:18 AM EST
Originally published: 7/13/07 at 12:19 AM EST
Last update: 7/13/07 at 12:18 AM EST
In other sports, there are some pretty good rivalries. Yankees vs. Red Sox will never get old, even though the Yankees are down this year. Baseball's west coast equivalent to that rivalry, Giants vs. Dodgers, is also down. In the NBA there aren't any true rivalries. The Suns and Spurs are getting close to being one, but a lot of the players involved are getting old and won't be around long enough for it to become a true rivalry. The best rivalry in American sports has to be the Colts and Patriots, which the Colts seem to be winning right now. As for America's best individual athlete, there is still no one close to Tiger Woods.
What makes the Federer/Nadal rivalry so special is the magnitude of their competition. If it were not for Nadal, the 25-year-old Federer would have a Career Grand Slam and 13 Grand Slam titles. Pete Sampras, who did not achieve a career Grand Slam, holds the record for the most Grand Slams with 14. Sampras won his 14th Grand Slam title when he was 30, to put that in perspective. If it were not for Nadal, Federer would be on a streak of 10 consecutive Grand Slam championships, which is unfathomable.
Meanwhile, Nadal would probably have at least five Grand Slam titles by now, and he's only 21. He's the only player who has a winning record against Federer (8-5) of all players who have faced him at least five times. It would not be surprising to see them square off again in this year's U.S. Open final in early September.
They are this decade's version of Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, minus the part about being American. In a way, it's a shame that they aren't American. Or maybe it's just a shame that no one seems to realize how dominant Federer has been and how Nadal is the only player that seems to be able to stop him. Instead, we get to watch Stuart Scott and Keyshawn Johnson talk about who's "more now;" LeBron James or Kelly Slater.
Maybe they should change their names. It wouldn't even require a difficult name change; they could go with something simple like Roger Franklin and Rafael Williams. Maybe they can be linked to Jessica Alba and Giselle Bundchen. Well, Giselle is tied up with Tom Brady right now, so we can hook one of the guys with Brady's old fling, Bridget Moynahan- post pregnancy of course. We can even say Rafael Williams is half black to get him some street cred, maybe even make him a bad guy and have him get a speeding ticket or two. Maybe that would help make this rivalry "more now."
Fortunately, we can't really do any of that stuff. All we can do is sit back and watch their greatness and hope the gatekeepers of the sports media world start to recognize what's going on. Once again, Roger Federer would be preparing for his 11th straight Grand Slam title if it were not for the three consecutive French Open titles won by Rafael Nadal since 2005. That's amazing, that's newsworthy and that should be what's now, regardless of whether these guys are American or not.
James Mason is a junior majoring in communications and can be reached through sports@thetriangle.org.
What makes the Federer/Nadal rivalry so special is the magnitude of their competition. If it were not for Nadal, the 25-year-old Federer would have a Career Grand Slam and 13 Grand Slam titles. Pete Sampras, who did not achieve a career Grand Slam, holds the record for the most Grand Slams with 14. Sampras won his 14th Grand Slam title when he was 30, to put that in perspective. If it were not for Nadal, Federer would be on a streak of 10 consecutive Grand Slam championships, which is unfathomable.
Meanwhile, Nadal would probably have at least five Grand Slam titles by now, and he's only 21. He's the only player who has a winning record against Federer (8-5) of all players who have faced him at least five times. It would not be surprising to see them square off again in this year's U.S. Open final in early September.
They are this decade's version of Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, minus the part about being American. In a way, it's a shame that they aren't American. Or maybe it's just a shame that no one seems to realize how dominant Federer has been and how Nadal is the only player that seems to be able to stop him. Instead, we get to watch Stuart Scott and Keyshawn Johnson talk about who's "more now;" LeBron James or Kelly Slater.
Maybe they should change their names. It wouldn't even require a difficult name change; they could go with something simple like Roger Franklin and Rafael Williams. Maybe they can be linked to Jessica Alba and Giselle Bundchen. Well, Giselle is tied up with Tom Brady right now, so we can hook one of the guys with Brady's old fling, Bridget Moynahan- post pregnancy of course. We can even say Rafael Williams is half black to get him some street cred, maybe even make him a bad guy and have him get a speeding ticket or two. Maybe that would help make this rivalry "more now."
Fortunately, we can't really do any of that stuff. All we can do is sit back and watch their greatness and hope the gatekeepers of the sports media world start to recognize what's going on. Once again, Roger Federer would be preparing for his 11th straight Grand Slam title if it were not for the three consecutive French Open titles won by Rafael Nadal since 2005. That's amazing, that's newsworthy and that should be what's now, regardless of whether these guys are American or not.
James Mason is a junior majoring in communications and can be reached through sports@thetriangle.org.
JM
posted 7/13/07 @ 2:12 AM EST
Tennis fans have known about them for ages. Who cares what the casual US sports fan thinks?