In a time of uncertainty, the Federer-Nadal dream final is a glorious throwback to the happier days

Last fall, Roger Federer visited the island of Mallorca in Spain, to help inaugurate Rafa Nadal’s new Tennis Academy. At the time, Federer was taking a six-month break from competitive tennis following knee surgery earlier in the year. Nadal had withdrawn from his beloved French Open a few months ago with a wrist injury and was also sitting out the last few weeks of the tennis season. Both players had dropped outside the top five in the world rankings.

Federer suggested to Nadal that they organize a charity or exhibition match because that was the only way they could play one another again. At Mallorca, they had to satisfy themselves by hitting informally with juniors.

Both men have relished sharing versions of this story after their semi-final victories at this year’s Australian Open. That story is now beginning to morph into a fairytale.

The improbability of two singles finals contested by the Williams sisters on Saturday and these two men on Sunday will make this tournament unforgettable for years to come. ESPN tennis commentator and former player Brad Gilbert called it “the greatest weekend in the history of tennis.”

On Sunday night in Melbourne, Federer and Nadal play one another for the 35th time. The revival of their rivalry has ignited the world of tennis. Even Grigor Dimitrov, Nadal’s vanquished opponent in the semi-final, said that he was looking forward to watching the final. Unlike the women’s final, which weighed heavily in Serena’s favor, this one is more likely to be a close contest. But the result is almost irrelevant. So what is it about Rafa and Roger facing each other at this stage in their careers that stirs up so much emotion in us all?

Enter the maestro

In March 2004, Roger Federer entered the Miami Masters event as the new world No. 1 and the defending Wimbledon and Australian Open champion. He was known and loved increasingly for his balletic grace, his all-court game, his classic fashion style, and his cool temperament. In the third round, he faced a 17-year-old from Mallorca, Spain for the first time. The teenager, Rafa Nadal, wore pirate pants and a sleeveless shirt that flaunted rippling biceps, and a bandanna around his flowing hair. The young upstart defeated 22-year-old Federer – who was a little unwell – in straight sets. That was the beginning of one of the greatest rivalries sport has ever seen.

At first, despite that defeat in Miami, no one really imagined that Federer’s newfound dominance would be seriously threatened. The Swiss won three of the four slams that year, and a total of eleven singles titles, which was the most of any player in two decades. He also ended the year ranked No. 1 for the first time. The following year, he avenged his defeat to Nadal in the semi-final at Miami, winning a thrilling five-set match from two sets to love down. A couple of months later, when Nadal won his first French Open title at the age of nineteen, beating Federer en route in the semis, he was considered to have truly arrived…on clay.

The greatest clay court player ever, Nadal failed to win a slam on any other surface for the next three years. Still, as his game became more versatile, as he kept adapting to play better on hard courts and grass, his rivalry with the world No. 1 grew more and more interesting. From 2006 to 2008, they played in every French Open and Wimbledon final, with Nadal winning all three matches at Roland Garros and losing the first two at the All England Club. But then came what is regarded as the greatest match ever played.

The greatest tennis match of all time

When the Wimbledon 2008 final began, Federer was seeking his sixth straight title there, while Nadal was trying to become the first player since Bjorn Borg to win back to back French Open and Wimbledon titles. While everyone knew that the match between the world’s top two players would be closely fought, no one could have guessed just how dramatic it would be. Nadal won the first two sets. Federer led 5-4 in the third, when rain stopped play for 80 minutes. When they came back, Federer took that set and then saved two championship points in the fourth set tiebreak to extend the match to a fifth. But the rain came down again, causing another 30-minute rain delay.

When the players returned to court, darkness was beginning to set in. The match resumed under fading light. At one point, Federer was just two points away from winning, but eventually it was Nadal who triumphed after four hours and 48 minutes, to claim his first Grand Slam title on a surface other than clay. That match was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, the first time that tennis made it there in a decade.

What makes a rivalry legendary is not just the close contests between two players but the contrast in their playing styles and personalities. Two of the most memorable rivalries in tennis have been those between the icy baseliner Borg and the volatile serve-and-volleyer John McEnroe on the men’s side, and the outspoken Martina Navratilova with her offensive game and the calm Chris Evert with her patient groundstrokes among the women. When Nadal first burst onto the scene, he could not have looked or played more differently than Federer. The Spanish bull, as he came to be affectionately known, had a baseline game that relied on heavy topspin and spectacular defence.

Grace artist vs raw energy

His energy during matches as he pumped his fists and yelled out “Vamos” after winning points electrified crowds. On the other side of the net, Federer, with his eight-hundred-dollar haircut (recommended by Vogue editor Anna Wintour,) played elegant tennis without ever breaking a sweat. Federer was sleek, while Nadal was raw. Federer was debonair while Nadal was the rebel.

The two men were usually the main if not only contenders for big titles before Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray began their rise to the top of men’s tennis. Federer and Nadal occupied the top two positions in men’s tennis for a record six consecutive years from 2005 to 2010. During this period, they won 21 of 24 Grand Slam singles titles between them, including 11 straight titles between 2005 and 2007.

What the stats do not indicate is how they pushed each other constantly to become better players, adapting their game just so they could beat one another. Their rivalry attracted the attention of sports fans beyond the tennis world. But even the two players could not match the intensity of their fans. Split into opposing groups, their supporters battled on social media and in living rooms and sports bars across the world.

The conversations between the fans sometimes got downright nasty. Never before had the tennis world witnessed such intense rivalry amongst fans. Trash talk was common, with “Fedatics” criticising Rafa for his physicality and lack of elegance on court, and “Rafaholics” pointing out his superior head-to-head record. Debates about who is the greatest player of all time have been heated, not just amongst their fans but also amongst tennis pundits. John McEnroe, for instance, has gone back and forth between the two, Pete Sampras has given Federer the edge, while Andre Agassi picks Nadal.

The adorable camaraderie Fedal share

What makes this story more heart-warming is that seemingly oblivious to the conversations around them, the two protagonists in this narrative have epitomised grace and friendship in the face of competition. They have nearly always paid each other rich compliments, with Nadal insisting that Federer is the best player of all time, and Federer declaring that he is Nadal’s “number one fan.”

They have organized charity matches together for their philanthropic organisations, and publicly supported one another through difficult times. When Djokovic began his ascent to the top of the rankings, leaving Nadal and Federer somewhat in his shadow, very few people seemed happy about it. Tennis seemed to have lost some of its lustre with the sidelining of these two athletes. Their injuries and subsequent decline sent their fans, who basically comprised the majority of tennis fans overall, into mourning. We missed their contrasting styles of play, and their meetings in the latter stages of tournaments. We wondered if we would ever see them play a big match again. We began to resign ourselves to the fact that perhaps the Fedal era had truly ended.

And yet, here we are. The first Grand Slam of the year has yielded what seemed like a miracle two weeks ago. Nearly six years after their last encounter in a Grand Slam final, Federer and Nadal will take the stage one more time, now aged 35 and 30 respectively, to fight for yet another major title. Incredibly, the stakes have never been higher. By Sunday night, their Grand Slam record will either be 18-14 or 17-15.

A world of difference hangs in those numbers. Andy Roddick told The Associated Press earlier this week that this is “the biggest match ever in Australian Open history and maybe Grand Slam history. What is at stake there is beyond what pretty much any player can comprehend.” No wonder then that it feels like an enormous shot in the arm of a sport that was beginning to get predictable and devoid of glamour.

A wistful remembrance of better times

The organisers of the Australian Open are expecting such huge crowds that they have decided to let fans into the adjoining Margaret Court Arena where they can watch the match on a giant screen. This may indeed be the very last time that Federer and Nadal face each other in a major final. Or, it might signal a magical revival of at least one if not two legendary careers for the rest of this year. Either way, it will be a captivating and emotional experience for the players and the millions following it around the globe.

In retrospect, it seems like we lived in a very different world eight years ago. That year, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, Fidel Castro retired from official public life, basketball player LeBron James became the first black man to appear on the cover of Vogue, Tiger Woods completed 500 days at number one and won his 14th major, Pixar released WALL-E, a 90th birthday tribute concert for Nelson Mandela was held at London’s Hyde Park. In Beijing American swimmer Michael Phelps broke the record for most medals won at a single Olympics, and the US held its 56th quadrennial Presidential election.

Did bad things happen that year? You bet. For one thing, the global financial crisis peaked, forcing people out of jobs and homes. And yet, recent political events around the world that have created divisions between groups of people, fanning fear and hostility, have made nostalgia for the past perhaps inevitable. Federer and Nadal’s rivalry harkens back to a time when we were all younger and the mood around the world was less sombre.

A couple of days ago, writer and tennis fan, Salman Rushdie wrote on Facebook about the “time warp” created by the two finals in Melbourne this weekend. He said, “It’s Wimbledon, 2008 again, and, it being 2008, this coming November Barack Obama will be elected president of the United States.” The quote, summoning the hope of those times in hindsight, sums up the sense of wistfulness accompanying a contest between these two beloved players. If we cannot really return to a safer, less divisive time in history, then at least, for a few hours, we can pretend. Somehow, in these times, this “impossible dream final” feels not just pleasurable but necessary.

Oindrila Mukherjee tweets here.