Federer Says 'Nadal Made Life Difficult For Me,' Talks Tennis Rivalries

Roger Federer is certain his game would have reached the heights it has had it not been for his long standing rivalries with Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. The former two have been his biggest rivals over the last decade and a half.

The 2004 season was Federer’s crowning glory when he announced himself to the tennis world after slowly coming up through the ranks after turning pro in 1998 and winning his first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2003. It was the year he became the world number one for the first time, won three men’s singles Grand Slam titles and ended the year as the top ranked player.

The year 2004 was the start of Federer’s domination of tennis, but it was also the same year he suffered his first defeat to a young Spaniard, who would go on to stand toe-to-toe with the Swiss ace widely considered today as the greatest of all time. Nadal beat the then world number one in the round of 32 at the Miami Masters and would go on to defeat him 22 more times in their 38 meetings thus far.

Nadal has 17 Grand Slams to Federer’s 20 and their rivalry is considered the greatest in the history of the sport. Djokovic also proved to be a resolute rival, but arrived much later in the story that had just two stars.

The Serbian also has a better record against Federer, having won 23 of their 45 meetings, but trails the Swiss in the majors department by seven titles. Federer admitted he did find it difficult to accept Nadal’s emergence as his main rival, but is certain his game went up a notch due to the Spaniard.

He also insisted tennis as a game became more popular owing to the intense rivalry between the trio after admitting it would have been impossible for one great player to carry the sport to its current status.

“Eventually Nadal came and he made life difficult for me. I had a hard time accepting that he is going to be my rival now for a while,” Federer told ATP’s official site. “It was not a problem per se but it took me a while to understand that I can draw a lot of energy out it and actually it could push me forward to actually improve my game and take it one step further.”

“Then the same thing happened with Djokovic and the same thing happened with Murray again and so forth,” he explained. “Rivalries are super important in sports; I think it makes also the game more popular because alone you just cannot carry a game.

“I am sorry, I do not care who you are but I think you always need somebody you can have a good rivalry with and for me thank god I had them,” the 20-time men’s singles Grand Slam champion added.