While reflecting on his Grand Slam journey, the Spanish player Rafael Nadal spoke about some noteworthy matches of his tennis career and about his clashes against Roger Federer.
Starting off with his match against Lleyton Hewitt in the fourth round of the Australian Open in 2005, shared his thoughts about the game.
“It was an important year for me. In 2003 and 2004, I was injured mid-season. I have memories of a great game against Hewitt, a very exciting five- set match. It was a great experience that I enjoyed on an amazing stage,” Rafael stated in the interview.
Adding on to his statement, Nadal said that although he had played against Lleyton Hewitt at the Australian Open of 2004, the 2005 match remained special to him as he was happy to experience the moment that year.
Rafael moved on to speak about his first Happy Slam title in 2009, which he clinched after winning against Roger Federer in the final of the tournament.
Nadal reminisced- “2009 was my most special year because it was when I first won the title here. It was a complicated year because of the excessive heat and the end of the tournament was tough. It was a very emotional match as playing against Federer is always special. But, I also knew that the situation was not ideal. What happened during the ceremony was a moment to remember.”
The Spaniard felt that what made it even more special was that it was his first Grand Slam title of his professional career on a hard court.
Speaking about the final against Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open of the year 2012, Rafael Nadal joked- “I don’t know if it was one of the best finals, but it was surely one of the longest and most emotional. The match had everything.”
Although Nadal lost that match, he feels happy to have been a part of such a match which made him give his all until the end of the match, beyond his limit.
Rafael Nadal continued to talk about his rivalry against Roger Federer in the interview
Remembering the match he played against Roger Federer at the Wimbledon championship 2019, Rafael gave details about how the two of them played that match.
In the interview, Nadal stated- “It was nice to play Roger Federer again at Wimbledon. The rivalries over the years are valued differently. We both know what our matches have represented for the tennis world and what it means to face now. We talked before the tournament because we are together in the Players Council. But before the game, it’s not usual to talk too much.”
At the semi-finals of the prestigious tournament, Federer defeated the Spaniard in a four-set match, by winning the first set and the final two sets.
Talking about how Roger played that day, Rafael added-
“I lacked a bit of pace that day; he played very aggressive and brave tennis, at a speed challenging to follow. I was not at the level of the previous matches either, but he was better than me. He was just the winner. Playing against Federer is always special, especially on a stage like this.”
Nadal and Federer are teaming up once again for the Team Europe at the upcoming Laver Cup later this year and have expressed passion about playing alongside each other again after a long time.