Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal - just great tennis
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal once again delivered a match for the history books in the Wimbledon semi-finals on Friday afternoon - but not only on the court, the two have been showing great tennis for years.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Jul 13, 2019, 07:11 am
Once again, it was one of those matches that you won't soon forget. Roger Federer's victory over Rafael Nadal in the Wimbledon semi-final had everything the two superstars around the world are loved for: suffering, incredible rallies, ups and downs on both sides and emotions that are hard to find in other areas of life .
However, the one thing that stands above all of the things just mentioned is probably the most important thing: respect. If Federer and Nadal have been fighting bitterly on every single point on the world's largest center courts for 16 years now, there are always fair and honest words after the sometimes memorable games - both from the winner and the loser.
Roger always manages to make difficult things easy.
Rafael Nadal about Roger Federer
"I had my chances. His return was better than mine. He played a great match," said Nadal after the semifinals - and continued: "Roger always manages to make the difficult things easy. He moves faster and takes the ball earlier than everyone else. "
Federer and Nadal - legends among themselves
Words from a champion. About half an hour earlier, the Spaniard had annihilated four Federer match balls in an unbelievable manner, and the audience could hardly stay in their seats - until the 37-year-old Federer used his fifth match ball thanks to a backhand error from his permanent competitor.
# BETATHOMEWI #
With the 16th success in the 40th duel with Nadal, the Swiss player in the final against Novak Djokovic on Sunday now has the chance to add a 21st Grand Slam title to his career. Before that, however, the maestro found warm words for the opponent who probably challenged him the most in his almost unbelievable career and made him perform at his best.
"It's always very cool to play against Rafa here. He has so much power that he can" kill "every point if he wants to. In the end, the game had everything. It will go down in history books as one of my favorite matches - it was against Rafa at Wimbledon and the crowd was great, "said Federer after his twelfth final appearance at the most prestigious tennis tournament of the year.
# wimsky2019
So while the new generation around Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas is still fighting for the connection to the absolute top of the world, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer continue to compete for new records and entries in the history books.
The Swiss and the Spaniards in particular continue to inspire fans with their contrary style of play and their different approaches to a match - on one side the Maestro from Basel, on the other the fighter from Mallorca. But one thing connects the two superstars: respect for the game and the opponent - just great tennis.
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