The greatest rivalries in Men's Tennis

The rivalry between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal is continuing to be one of the best ever in the era of Lawn Tennis. It carries the legacy of Bjorn Borg – John McEnroe and Pete Sampras – Andre Agassi. Undoubtedly all the 6 players are one of the greatest of their generation. However, only one from these 6 has won all the 4 major grand slam titles. It is none other than Andre Agassi. He is one of the few players to have achieved this feat. However, his achievement has been overshadowed by Pete Sampras’ domination in the 90’s. Winning 7 Wimbledon titles, the queen of grand slams is no easy task and a total of 14 grand slam titles, highest by any one in the era of professional tennis just shows how great he is. However, not even reaching the finals of the French Open is a blot in his great career. I am not here to compare the player’s greatness. I consider it is my privilege to write about these tennis giants.

Since, I have not watched Borg and McEnroe, I will start with Sampras and Agassi. Ever since I started watching tennis (guess its 1990), I started loving it. Watching Agassi and Sampras playing was like a treat for my eyes and am sure every tennis follower would accept this. I still remember Agassi playing against Goran Ivanisevic in 1992 Wimbledon finals. Agassi winning the finals in 5 sets and thereby winning his first grand slam title. For any tennis player it will be like a dream come true winning his first grand slam at The Championships. His forehand return serve was so elegant and no wonder it was considered one of his trademark shots. His first title saw him reaching greater heights in his career reaching world number 1 in ATP rankings. Later he went on to win 4 Australian Open, 2 US Open and 1 French Open, becoming only the 5^th player to win all the 4 grand slam titles. Apart from this, he is the only player to have won a career golden grand slam which includes an Olympic gold medal winning at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics beating Sergi Brugera of Spain in the finals. During the mid 90’s his form dipped and his ranking plunged. However, he came back strongly to win Australian Open and the French Open and regaining the No 1 spot. His last match at the grand slam was the US Open finals which he eventually lost to Roger Federer.

Pete Sampras, one of the greatest player to have played tennis. He has won a record 14 grand slams which includes 7 Wimbledon, 5 US open and 2 Australian Open titles. However, not winning the French Open title is a blot in his illustrious career. He was by far the most dominating player during his days. His win- loss record against his rival Andre Agassi is evident to show his class. It all started in 1988 when he started his career in professional men’s tennis and went on to win his first grand slam in 1990 US Open when he defeated Andre Agassi. Then 1993 saw him winning his first of the 7 Wimbledon titles. He faced fellow American Jim Courier in the finals. In the same year he won his second US Open title. In 1994, he won his first Australian Open and winning his second Wimbledon title in a row. His domination in the sport continued till 2002 when he beat Agassi in the finals of the US Open in four sets. It was his last ATP finals. His main strengths were his big serve and forehand. In 2007, he was inducted into the International Tennis hall of fame.

Roger Federer, by far the complete player of modern tennis. He has already won 13 grand slam titles equaling Bjon Borg’s record of 5 consecutive Wimbledon. With age in his side, he will surely surpass Sampras’ record of 14 grand slam titles. Unlike Sampras, he has reached the finals of the French Open thrice. He also holds record of 5 consecutive US Open title. Apart from this he has won 3 Australian Open titles and Olympic doubles gold medal. He was ranked number 1 for a record 237 weeks going past Jimmy Connors’s record of 167 weeks. He was the most dominating player winning almost all the games he played until the arrival of Rafael Nadal. Apart from this he has the highest career earnings and have won a record 57 ATP titles keeping him in the 8^th position of all time lists. He is the only player to have appeared in 10 consecutive grand slam finals and to have won 5 consecutive grand slam titles on 2 different events – Wimbledon and US Open. However, Nadal has been a thorn in his flesh beating him in 3 French Open finals and 1 Wimbledon finals and 1 Australian Open finals. He lost his world number 1 ranking to Nadal in 2008 at the Masters cup in August. I am just waiting for more from these two players.

Rafael Nadal, the gutsy Spaniard and the current World Number 1 holds the record of the only player after Bjon Borg to have won French Open and Wimbledon in same year and equaled his record of 4 consecutive French Open title. He has won 6 grand slam titles and an Olympic gold medal. He holds the record of longest winning streak at the clay court winning 81 matches. He has faced Federer in the finals of grand slam 7 times which itself a record in the Open era. He has been the dominant among his rival Federer having a win-loss record of 13-6. He may not be as elegant as Federer but his never say attitude is what has fetched him the glory. He has a strong forehand and when he plays the ball flies like a rocket. His Wimbledon victory over Federer is considered to be one of the greatest finals to have ever played in The Championship history. I just cannot wait to see these 2 playing the finals again.