The rivalry and friendship of Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer is one of the most special sporting phenomena in history. Two men opposite in their paths and, at the same time, so close, gave the world a new perspective on rivalry. Their close relationship began very soon, but everything was not so peaceful for Roger Federerjust as he himself remembers.
This is what the Swiss confessed in the documentary of his retirement Federer, the last 12 days, in which he described his feelings about the moments in which Rafa appeared as a rival in his life. “The world sometimes wonders how we can be good friends. I believe it is possible to play hard and at the same time have a kind relationship.“, begins his story.
“When Rafa arrived on the circuit you could feel that he had something really special. We knew he was going to win Grand Slams, we knew it. I was at the top at that time, so the fact that he respected me was something very natural and normal for him. And for me… I always thought that it is very nice to support young people that are arriving. So I think the relationship started very friendly,” he recalls before revealing his most difficult thoughts.
“And then obviously the moment comes when the rivalry starts. I lost my first match against him and, at first, I thought ‘I don’t want to have this guy here. I like to be alone at the top.’ So I had to find a way to dig deeper and look inside myself. ‘Well, how am I going to deal with this now?’ Because it was a little mind-blowing. I simply was not able to understand and unlock it,” adds the protagonist of, perhaps, the best sports documentary of the year 2024.
The documentary produced by Amazon Prime shows that the relationship surpassed all barriers, as it shows both tennis players holding hands through tears in that Laver Cup match that they played together and that No viewer will ever be able to erase it from their retina.
2024-12-30 09:38:00