Tennis legend Roger Federer has discussed his long-term and healthy rivalry inside the tennis court with Rafael Nadal.
The Swiss tennis ace has achieved a lot of success on the grass surface. Rafael Nadal, on the other hand, has been largely successful over the years when playing on the clay. Despite this being their strong suit, both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer has gone to win things on other surfaces.
Roger Federer says this makes his rivalry with Rafael Nadal even more cooler. Over the years, both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have been a part of big events, Grand Slams, tours, foundation and political side of tennis. The former world number one says it has been a great journey so far for him, having the Spaniard next to him.
"The way we go about it is very different, but yet we both find a way to excel. The way he came up was very clay-court based, and I was apparently very grass-court based, and we both found our ways on other surfaces," said Roger Federer, as reported by Express.
"I think it all adds to the cool rivalry that we've had. And then you add all the foundation stuff we have, promotional things we have done for the tour, political things, whatever it has been, it's been quite a journey with Rafa side by side."
After a period of two years, Roger Federer will face Rafael Nadal in the semi final of the Indian Wells Masters of this year on Saturday [Sunday in India]. Roger Federer is considered the favourite if one has to take the recent head to head record between the two. The 37-year-old is not taking the past record into account when facing Rafael Nadal this weekend.
"A lot of time has gone by. A lot has happened in those 18 months [since we last played]. You can't just copy and paste and play exactly the same thing again. He's at a higher level than he was at the Australian Open... especially in a place like Indian Wells, where he feels comfortable, he's clearly very tough to play," said the 20 time Grand Slam winner.
"I'm holding my serve comfortably. I'm in a good place mentally when I go into my service games, so I hope I can keep that up. You obviously need to against Rafa. At this stage of the tournament, you have to bring your best game."
