Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had one of the most legendary rivalries ever witnessed in tennis history.
The pair contested 40 matches on the ATP Tour, including nine Grand Slam finals.
Among those finals, Nadal and Federer contested one of the greatest matches in tennis history: the 2008 Wimbledon final.
Nadal won his first Wimbledon title at the event, defeating Federer 6–4, 6–4, 6–7, 6–7, 9–7 after four hours and 48 minutes of play.
Federer, who captured 20 Grand Slam titles before his retirement in 2022, won 16 of his 40 matches against Nadal.
Ivan Ljubicic, the former coach of Federer, has explained why the Swiss maestro could not use one particular shot against Nadal.
Ivan Ljubicic says Roger Federer could not slice against Rafael Nadal
Ljubicic, who coached Federer between 2016 and 2022, discussed the Swiss star’s rivalry with Rafael Nadal.
I heard and I read a lot of stories of how Ivan changed this and that,” he said on the Off Court with Greg Podcast.
“It’s very difficult to remember, honestly, when you are a coach you work on everything at the same time and you say so many things you don’t know what is going to stick.
“One thing is true is that we all knew that against Rafa you cannot slice, so for me it was very obvious that he has to hit those backhands if he wants to have any chance to beat him.
“My point was that I wanted him to hit a flat backhand, not flick it or a top spin one or a high one, but go through the ball.
“We worked on it from September 2016 for five months on the return, but you know how it is, you work on something and it sticks on the other things. So we did work on it [the backhand] but it did work on other things.
“But now it’s very famous that Ljubicic changed his backhand, and because I had a one handed backhand I can only coach one handed players.
“But the thing is we did work on it, but against Rafa he knew that he could not slice, so then the perfect storm came and he started really feeling confident with the backhand and 2017 was a great year for his career and as a team. Everything was like a dream.”
Under Ljubicic’s guidance, Federer won three Grand Slam titles: the 2017 Australian Open and Wimbledon Championships, and the 2018 Australian Open.
Ljubicic, of Croatia, also coached Milos Raonic between 2013 and 2015.
Federer and Nadal’s first match
At the 2004 Miami Open, Rafael Nadal defeated Goran Ivanisevic to set up a third-round match against world number one Roger Federer.
Nadal upset the odds in Miami, defeating Federer 6-3, 6-3.
“I’m very happy because I played one of the best matches in my life,” Nadal said after clinching victory. “Obviously, he didn’t play his best tennis and that’s the reason why I could win. I mean, if he had played his best tennis, I would have had no chance. But that’s what happens in tennis. If a player like me plays at a very, very good level and a top player like Roger doesn’t play his best tennis, I can win.”
“He doesn’t hit the ball flat and hard,” Federer told reporters after the match. “It’s more with a lot of spin, which makes the ball bounce, bounce high, and that’s a struggle I had today.
“I tried to get out of it, but kind of couldn’t. I thought in the beginning I maybe wasn’t going for my shots enough, where in the end I thought I was hitting the ball better.
“But I felt the match maybe went his way, and he hit some really incredible shots.”
“I’ve heard a lot about him and saw some matches of his,” Federer added. “I think this is not a big surprise for everybody.”
Nadal was knocked out in the very next round by Fernando Gonzalez. Andy Roddick won the title, defeating Guillermo Coria in the final.