If I did not know better, I would have claimed that all Tennis Grand slams are rigged. My simple reason being that almost every Grand slam ends up with the same two names in the last match of the slam. It’s as if both these men have unfinished business to take care of with each other and stamp their claim as the best tennis player the open era has ever seen.

Yes, I am talking about Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Both of them have faced each other in more number of finals than most players will ever play in their career. This post is about the FedEx-Nadal rivalry. It is about the fiercest competition that the tennis world has witnessed. Nevertheless, a competition that is respected from the both ends of the net.

We all have a favorite between Rafael and Roger. Irrespective of your support for one, you can never be disrespectful towards the other. These man themselves share a mutual respect for each other which speaks volumes about their greatness. After Nadal won Wimbledon for the first time, his portrayal of joy was very submissive. Why? Because he respected and felt for Roger who was crying buckets at the other end….

Roger and Rafael are text book examples of healthy competition. In the court both men stop at nothing to get the better out of each other and in the process have given us some of the most memorable matches in the game. However it is perhaps the only rivalry in the world where the loser gets the same amount of applause as the winner. On field they compete to win, off field they are just two individuals in awe of each other.

We call it rivalry.

Correction… “Respected Rivalry”