Nobody knew it and not even the most enthusiastic could imagine it, but On March 28, 2004, among iguanas, fine sand beaches and turquoise waters, what would become the greatest rivalry in history of tennis, with permission of Novak Djokovic. The Crandon Park facilities, in Miami’s spectacular Key Biscayne, were the setting in which Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer They laid the first brick.
20 years have passed and numerous media outlets and social media accounts have rescued this week the video of the anniversary, in which Nadal with a baby face and a sleeveless shirt beat Federer 6-3 and 6-3 in just over an hour. However, There are some scenes that were not seen and others that were buried by the passage of time. and for the millions of anecdotes that the Nadal-Federer family left behind.
At the time, Federer, 22, had just debuted at number one in the ranking ATP after winning his first two Grand Slams at Wimbledon and the Australian Open. He had the world at his feet. Nadal, on the other hand, was 17 years old and was number 34 in the world rankings.. His name was already beginning to be in the big pools. The one in Miami was his first big impact and everything that surrounded the victory now seems surreal..
Without Toni Nadal on the bench
For a start, Nadal traveled to Miami without Toni, his uncle, mentor and coach. His place was taken by Jofre Porta, the man who had discovered Carlos Moyà in the early 80s in Palma de Mallorca. Porta had a work group on the island and had worked closely with Toni Nadal for many years.
The first time Porta met Nadal was back in 1995, when Toni approached the Technique Center where Jofre Porta was, who worked for the Spanish Tennis Federation. “I have a kid who plays amazing, my nephew”, Told him. Jofre had already heard Toni several times about a kid who plays incredible and was not taken literally. But this time he was right. “This one, yes, Toni, this one plays incredible,” was Porta’s response after seeing Nadal for the first time.. Back then, the future number one hit both the forehand and the two-handed backhand.
Porta was a basic piece in that first gear in Nadal’s career and accompanied him in many junior tournaments. In fact, Miami 2004 was the last trip that Porta and Nadal took together. “It was a very laudable farewell for me because we achieved a milestone. When we went on a trip and I saw that we had Federer in the second round, I thought ‘For home’. When he won it…imagine“, Porta said a few years ago. However, although Porta was the one in the box, Nadal picked up the phone and called his uncle Toni before each match.
With dolphins and without English
A few days before facing Federer in Crandon Park, Nadal landed in Miami and the organization of the tournament, whose official name at that time was Nasdaq-100 Open, asked the Manacor player to attend a match. ATP players are contractually obliged to carry out events to promote the tournaments and the big stars are usually reluctant to dedicate their free time to activities of this type. But Nadal was then 17 years old, he was in a bustling Miami and the activity on top was the most fun: swimming with dolphins at the Miami Seaquarium. The Spaniard had a blast on a visit that was also attended by the Argentine Guillermo Coria, the Russian Elena Likhovtseva and the German Rainer Schüttler.
Two days later he made his debut in Miami with a 6-4 victory over Ivan Ljubicic and the retirement of what would later become Federer’s coach. And in the third round he beat the Swiss by a double 6-3 and 6-3, who had just won 28 of his last 29 games. Logically, after knocking down the number one, Nadal had to appear before the media. At 17 years old, Nadal had, let’s say, quite basic English. Nothing compared to the Nadal of today, capable of giving answers of several minutes in English.
“If you have questions in English for Rafael, he will answer them in Spanish and I will translate them,” said the ATP moderator when he entered a room that was full to listen to the Spaniard, who He answered 14 questions and left some answers to remember.
“I was afraid that he could beat me 6-1 and 6-1 or 6-1 and 6-2, but I really wanted to play this match because it was against the number one in the world. I entered the court with a positive attitude and not with the attitude of ‘Let’s try to win a game’“said the Mallorcan.”The most important thing is that I didn’t let him play his game, because if you let him, he beats you 6-1 and 6-1 or 6-1 and 6-2, as is happening this year and that is something that has never happened. From the first point I knew that I had to take the initiative,” he added. Some words that explain very well the 24-16 that the Spaniard has in the face to face with the Swiss.
“This result is going to be talked about all over the world. Do you think your mobile phone will be very busy with calls tonight?” a journalist later asked him. “No, not right now because it’s four in the morning in Spain and everyone will be sleeping. Tomorrow the newspapers will not have this news. Maybe you’re on the Internet or on teletext and you start receiving some calls…“An answer that 20 years later would be impossible: Nadal would have responded directly in English, without a translator, he would not talk about teletext and any match of his with Federer would go around the world in a matter of seconds. And yes, all thanks to the Internet .
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Roger Federer
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Rafael Nadal