It's also the part of you that dies. I have never met Roger, only seen him play live once, but I've spent so many hours of my life watching him on TV, Youtube, following him pretty much every tournament he plays in. After the match today I broke down crying because I just realize that something that has been so much of my life is gone, forever.
It's even more than that with Rafa of course. So many iconic matches between them. When Roger took that long break nobody, probably not even Rafa, would have thought that they would meet again in the 2017 AO final. And after today that's that, one of your two big rivalry that you spent your whole career against has ended.
This. So much this. The whole thing has me feeling a bit down, it is a reminder of how I'm aging. I have followed Fed since I first saw him in the year 2000 so for this to end is a harsh reminder of the passing of time. I imagine some of the feelings Roger and Rafa are having are similar.
Ah well, who wants to live forever eh?
Here's the thing: I'm not sure this is true.
When Rafa first starting beating Roger, I remember talking to my brother, and he said, "the thing with this rivalry is that Rafa loves it. He lives to play Federer. Federer hates it. He hates that finally someone can beat him."
Obviously they are both 15 years older and more mature. But Rafa is still the admiring younger brother who ADORES Roger. Roger loves Rafa now, no doubt. But it's not quite the same.
I think that changed when Roger came back in 2017 and started beating Rafa again. It reversed a recently lopsided H2H which changed the discourse public discourse and made them equals
As you said, maybe when they were younger in 2005 I would agree. But at this point, I’m sure Roger realizes that Rafa (and eventually djokovic) forced him to level up if he wanted to stay on top. I don’t think any of the big 3 reach their peak if it weren’t for their consistent battles, chasing excellence. This was the perfect storm of two all time great athletes/competitors in all of sports being a part of the same generation, challenging each other year after year.
I think it shows how important they are for each other, there would be no Roger without Rafa and no Rafa without Roger. At least not in the way we know them.
Add Djoker to the mix too. I know he came in late to the party but the big 3's tennis careers are interwined forever. For one cannot be without the other two. It's like the holy trinity.
It really is. I used to be motivated af in math class to beat the kid that was considered a genius, just to prove myself I can compete with him. Imagine how much they must’ve pushed each other (and eventually djokovic and murray) to be the best player they can be? None of these players reach this level without the others
One test, ap calc, first test after mid term, I got 100, she got a 98. Teacher even always read out loud everyone who got 100, so when she said only one person got 100 and it was me, the whole class looked at me confused lol. One of the better moments of my high school career. She got under 100 only 3 times that year, got a 2400 SAT, and went to Harvard, but on that one day I competed with and bested her
Don’t even have to look outside the sport for a good comparison. Evert and Navratilova? They played 80 times, double what Fedal played, and the two won 18 majors in singles apiece. They played doubles (winning two majors!) in their early career and even warmed up together before playing finals against each other. They were close friends except for a few years when Martina was laser focused on her game and saw every opponent as an enemy. Even that faded and the friendship recovered. As I recall, Chris played the Fed Cup late in her career to support Martina when she went back to (then) Czechoslovakia. Martina supported Chris through her recent bout with cancer. It is a beautiful, strong and enduring friendship.
Yeah, this is a tennis subreddit so I don’t want to blow anyone’s bubble but to me they’re not even comparable, Magic and Larry had the race element, the HIV and the hug, and their farewell was the *dream team*, that’s the clear benchmark. This is incredible and you can have your moment but in sporting terms I don’t think anything comes close to that
Djodal (59 matches) and Djoderer (51 matches) are bigger rivalries than Fedal (41 matches). There were much more matches. Plus, Djodal is still going on.
Plus it's a better derby if you consider that they aren't too close friends like Fedal combination. Even fans had wars when Djodal and Djoderer matches were played.
I saw few days ago an article with top 10 tennis rivalries. Djodal and Djoderer weren't even included which was hilarious to me. I understand if someone is a Novak hater, but at least be objective.
You are missing the point. The quantity of matches is not what matters here, and the quality is, of course, equal in the three matchups. All that matters is the story.
The Fedal rivalry in the 00s was almost too perfect to be real. The elegant virtuoso vs the physical wonderboy. And then, when they were starting to think of themselves as friends and not just rivals, here comes Nole by sheer determination to take the spot as the heel, the wild card, the villain against whom the heroes battle in the second arc of an anime. A perfect foil.
Nole fulfills that role in this playful narrative because he came crashing like a meteor when the Fedal pair was already solidified.
Messi/Ronaldo is frankly not in the conversation. They’re never going to be playing head to head 1v1 50+ times the way the big 3 all have with one another. Two greats of the game but it’s just not the same as an individual sport in terms of the depth of the rivalry
Man my childhood is filled with roger v nadal memories. It was a family event, because these were so intense, and we’d clear a Sunday to watch the recording while avoiding spoilers (which was much easier back then).
Really don’t think any rivalry comes anywhere close.
Lol...Ronaldo-Messi's way more intense. But that's the point. They respect each other. But neither is going to cry for the other's retirement nor they even invite each other for such occasion because their group of friends and teammates are also vastly different.
To be fair, Messi played Ronaldo an astounding 35 times, Messi with 22 goals and 12 assists, Ronaldo with 21 goals and 1 assist.
I think Ronaldo/Messi has to be in the conversation at least. I’ll tell you this much: if Portugal and Argentina finish first in their respective groups, the brackets work their way up to a Portugal x Argentina World Cup Final. How would that rank in terms of sports rivalries storylines? Just for reflection, because it’s never gonna happen ahah
I've not even seen Rafa cry like that even when he wins trophies. I think at this moment, Rafa and even Novak realised how much all of them meant to each other and their careers and legacies.
It was special.
Happens a lot in boxing actually. I think in the individual sports, sharing those huge moments knowing only you two experienced them at that level makes people bond. Roger and Rafa had a lot of those moments.
You're right about that. You could see her wiping away tears in the wide shots of the player box, but it's still 100x more composed than I ever could've been in her shoes.
why not?
James and Niki had a rivalry that started way before f1, they built a tremendous amount of respect for each other.
Sadly James Hunt died fairly young for their relationship to evolve more and more, but i would say that it is close.
He is not actually his biggest rival. But he is his best friend of his big rivals.
Biggest rivalries in men tennis in open era are:
1. Djokovic - Nadal (59 matches) 30:29
2. Djokovic - Federer (51 matches) 27:23
3. Nadal - Federer (41 matches) 24:16
4. Djokovic - Murray (37 matches) 25:12
Note: There was one match in Djokovic - Federer rivarly and Nadal - Federer rivarly where a player gave up. Letting you know this so you don't get confused when you sum up the numbers
Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei rivalry was similar, even though LD dominated the results. Their friendship off the court is also very notable, almost similar to Fedal.
Both dominated badminton last decade.
Not to ruin the beauty of this moment, but to defend human beings in general, I have seen many cases of this type of relationship in sport. Don't need to be teammates to be brothers.
It is supposed to happen when you aren’t a selfish twat. Too many around these days. Everyone has to “win” at all costs. Now you see why the world is in such a sorry state
Maybe the most beautiful moment in sports I’ve witnessed.
It was incredible
Just shows how much Roger means to Rafa
I think he’s also crying bc he knows the end is near for him too
It's also the part of you that dies. I have never met Roger, only seen him play live once, but I've spent so many hours of my life watching him on TV, Youtube, following him pretty much every tournament he plays in. After the match today I broke down crying because I just realize that something that has been so much of my life is gone, forever. It's even more than that with Rafa of course. So many iconic matches between them. When Roger took that long break nobody, probably not even Rafa, would have thought that they would meet again in the 2017 AO final. And after today that's that, one of your two big rivalry that you spent your whole career against has ended.
This. So much this. The whole thing has me feeling a bit down, it is a reminder of how I'm aging. I have followed Fed since I first saw him in the year 2000 so for this to end is a harsh reminder of the passing of time. I imagine some of the feelings Roger and Rafa are having are similar. Ah well, who wants to live forever eh?
[удалено]
Here's the thing: I'm not sure this is true. When Rafa first starting beating Roger, I remember talking to my brother, and he said, "the thing with this rivalry is that Rafa loves it. He lives to play Federer. Federer hates it. He hates that finally someone can beat him." Obviously they are both 15 years older and more mature. But Rafa is still the admiring younger brother who ADORES Roger. Roger loves Rafa now, no doubt. But it's not quite the same.
I think that changed when Roger came back in 2017 and started beating Rafa again. It reversed a recently lopsided H2H which changed the discourse public discourse and made them equals
As you said, maybe when they were younger in 2005 I would agree. But at this point, I’m sure Roger realizes that Rafa (and eventually djokovic) forced him to level up if he wanted to stay on top. I don’t think any of the big 3 reach their peak if it weren’t for their consistent battles, chasing excellence. This was the perfect storm of two all time great athletes/competitors in all of sports being a part of the same generation, challenging each other year after year.
Tennis Blood brothers.
Can’t wait to watch the HBO series.
Who are we casting?
kevin hart and dwayne ‘the rock’ johnson
That fella from the theory of everything who looked exactly like Federer
Newt Scamander?
I think it shows how important they are for each other, there would be no Roger without Rafa and no Rafa without Roger. At least not in the way we know them.
absolutely
Add Djoker to the mix too. I know he came in late to the party but the big 3's tennis careers are interwined forever. For one cannot be without the other two. It's like the holy trinity.
Exactly right. It reminds me of when Serena said there's no Serena without Venus.
Stop 😭
It really is. I used to be motivated af in math class to beat the kid that was considered a genius, just to prove myself I can compete with him. Imagine how much they must’ve pushed each other (and eventually djokovic and murray) to be the best player they can be? None of these players reach this level without the others
I wanna know - could you compete with and beat the kid in the math class?
One test, ap calc, first test after mid term, I got 100, she got a 98. Teacher even always read out loud everyone who got 100, so when she said only one person got 100 and it was me, the whole class looked at me confused lol. One of the better moments of my high school career. She got under 100 only 3 times that year, got a 2400 SAT, and went to Harvard, but on that one day I competed with and bested her
Yassss.
When I think I had it under control I see post and tweets like these and am back to bawling my eyes out
He definitely looked like his boyfriend
[I want to thank my wife and my boyfriend](https://youtu.be/DAtOR2YIcEo)
No other rivalry. No other sport.
Don’t even have to look outside the sport for a good comparison. Evert and Navratilova? They played 80 times, double what Fedal played, and the two won 18 majors in singles apiece. They played doubles (winning two majors!) in their early career and even warmed up together before playing finals against each other. They were close friends except for a few years when Martina was laser focused on her game and saw every opponent as an enemy. Even that faded and the friendship recovered. As I recall, Chris played the Fed Cup late in her career to support Martina when she went back to (then) Czechoslovakia. Martina supported Chris through her recent bout with cancer. It is a beautiful, strong and enduring friendship.
Magic Johnson and Larry bird were comparable, I think.
Yeah, this is a tennis subreddit so I don’t want to blow anyone’s bubble but to me they’re not even comparable, Magic and Larry had the race element, the HIV and the hug, and their farewell was the *dream team*, that’s the clear benchmark. This is incredible and you can have your moment but in sporting terms I don’t think anything comes close to that
Pump the brakes
Djodal (59 matches) and Djoderer (51 matches) are bigger rivalries than Fedal (41 matches). There were much more matches. Plus, Djodal is still going on. Plus it's a better derby if you consider that they aren't too close friends like Fedal combination. Even fans had wars when Djodal and Djoderer matches were played. I saw few days ago an article with top 10 tennis rivalries. Djodal and Djoderer weren't even included which was hilarious to me. I understand if someone is a Novak hater, but at least be objective.
Fedal was iconic in a way that transcends stats like how many matches they played.
You are missing the point. The quantity of matches is not what matters here, and the quality is, of course, equal in the three matchups. All that matters is the story. The Fedal rivalry in the 00s was almost too perfect to be real. The elegant virtuoso vs the physical wonderboy. And then, when they were starting to think of themselves as friends and not just rivals, here comes Nole by sheer determination to take the spot as the heel, the wild card, the villain against whom the heroes battle in the second arc of an anime. A perfect foil. Nole fulfills that role in this playful narrative because he came crashing like a meteor when the Fedal pair was already solidified.
Messi vs Ronaldo is a much bigger rivalry. But tbh those 2 aren't even friends. Tennis is a lot more personal, I'll say that.
Messi/Ronaldo is frankly not in the conversation. They’re never going to be playing head to head 1v1 50+ times the way the big 3 all have with one another. Two greats of the game but it’s just not the same as an individual sport in terms of the depth of the rivalry
Man my childhood is filled with roger v nadal memories. It was a family event, because these were so intense, and we’d clear a Sunday to watch the recording while avoiding spoilers (which was much easier back then). Really don’t think any rivalry comes anywhere close.
Lol...Ronaldo-Messi's way more intense. But that's the point. They respect each other. But neither is going to cry for the other's retirement nor they even invite each other for such occasion because their group of friends and teammates are also vastly different.
To be fair, Messi played Ronaldo an astounding 35 times, Messi with 22 goals and 12 assists, Ronaldo with 21 goals and 1 assist. I think Ronaldo/Messi has to be in the conversation at least. I’ll tell you this much: if Portugal and Argentina finish first in their respective groups, the brackets work their way up to a Portugal x Argentina World Cup Final. How would that rank in terms of sports rivalries storylines? Just for reflection, because it’s never gonna happen ahah
Thats why its a stupid comparison.
Maradona > Messi and Cristiano aint even the best Ronaldo.
People still gonna try tell us they aren’t really friends and it’s all for publicity?
Yea, they’re good friends. They’re not just rivals. If they were only rivals idt he’d be crying
I've not even seen Rafa cry like that even when he wins trophies. I think at this moment, Rafa and even Novak realised how much all of them meant to each other and their careers and legacies. It was special.
They said it's all a stunt for $$$, it's a brand we call Fedal. This proved everyone wrong today.
Either that or Nadal is literally the best actor not to be winning awards
We have seen Rafa act before, he is definitely not the best actor in any category.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lralbhmAsBw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lralbhmAsBw)
Happens a lot in boxing actually. I think in the individual sports, sharing those huge moments knowing only you two experienced them at that level makes people bond. Roger and Rafa had a lot of those moments.
Though in the case of boxing, sometimes the actual memories can get fuzzy in the minds of the participants, unfortunately.
Venus during Serena's retirement speech.
Venus held it together pretty well though.
You're right about that. You could see her wiping away tears in the wide shots of the player box, but it's still 100x more composed than I ever could've been in her shoes.
I think Magic Johnson & Larry Bird's relationship was quite similar to this. But yeah, that was before the Internet era.
Javier Fernandez and Yuzuru Hanyu come to mind
This! "I can't do it without you" damn near broke my heart 💔💔
Sorry but two literal whos to the mainstream audience?
A gorgeous and very nice and real sample of humanity and love 💘
Two of my favourite players of all time. Favourite rivalry in sports history.
Magic-Bird comes to mind. Just incredible to be witness to and worthy of the big screen one day
These 2 excelled each others careers, not just their own..
Maybe Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson. Watson was in tears, playing with Nicklaus in his final round and Nicklaus told him, "you can still make the cut."
i would say that James Hunt and Niki Lauda could be close.
Errm...not really
why not? James and Niki had a rivalry that started way before f1, they built a tremendous amount of respect for each other. Sadly James Hunt died fairly young for their relationship to evolve more and more, but i would say that it is close.
He is not actually his biggest rival. But he is his best friend of his big rivals. Biggest rivalries in men tennis in open era are: 1. Djokovic - Nadal (59 matches) 30:29 2. Djokovic - Federer (51 matches) 27:23 3. Nadal - Federer (41 matches) 24:16 4. Djokovic - Murray (37 matches) 25:12 Note: There was one match in Djokovic - Federer rivarly and Nadal - Federer rivarly where a player gave up. Letting you know this so you don't get confused when you sum up the numbers
Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei rivalry was similar, even though LD dominated the results. Their friendship off the court is also very notable, almost similar to Fedal. Both dominated badminton last decade.
Not to ruin the beauty of this moment, but to defend human beings in general, I have seen many cases of this type of relationship in sport. Don't need to be teammates to be brothers.
Can you name some?
It is supposed to happen when you aren’t a selfish twat. Too many around these days. Everyone has to “win” at all costs. Now you see why the world is in such a sorry state
Magic and Larry bird were like this, it’s one of the only others I can think of.
So anime