Federer's 4 Rivalries: How Nadal, Djokovic & Murray Shaped Him

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Andy Roddick: the four rivalries that shaped the career of the most admired player men's tennis has ever produced. This is the story of Federer's rivals told from the other side of the net — not a list of trophies, but an account of what each of those four men forced him to change. Andy Roddick came first. Already a major champion and world number one when Federer overtook him at the top of the rankings in February 2004, he lost four Grand Slam finals to Federer, including the 2009 Wimbledon final that went to a thirty-game fifth set. Twenty-four meetings, twenty-one defeats: the rivalry Federer solved almost completely. Rafael Nadal was the opposite. A left-hander whose high bouncing forehand attacked the one stroke Federer had always trusted, he beat him at the majors again and again — until a knee injury, a bigger racquet and a rebuilt backhand turned the rivalry around in a single season. In 2017 Federer returned after six months out, seeded seventeenth, and beat Nadal in the Australian Open final from a break down in the fifth. He won all four of their meetings that year, and at the Laver Cup the two of them played doubles together and won. Novak Djokovic was nineteen when they first met at a major. He saved six set points to beat Federer in Montreal, lost his first major final to him in New York, then won the 2008 Australian Open semifinal in straight sets — and ended Federer's run of ten consecutive major finals. Federer told the press he had created a monster. From that point on, every young player walked on court believing Federer was a man you could beat. Andy Murray grew up alongside them and played ten major finals against the so-called Big Three. His biggest regret, he has said, is not the finals he lost but that he never socialised with them. He also remembers the day Federer stopped practising with him — a small detail that explains how much of Federer's edge was about guarding what he knew. Together these four men run like a spine through Federer's career. Every time he adjusted, one of them was waiting to test whether the adjustment had worked. His numbers say how good he was: twenty major singles titles and two hundred and thirty-seven consecutive weeks as world number one. His rivals say how hard it was. That is why the era he played in is so difficult to repeat. #RogerFederer #RafaelNadal #NovakDjokovic #AndyMurray #AndyRoddick #TennisRivalries #TennisHistory 0:00 4 rivals, 4 different problems 1:10 The season Federer finally solved Nadal 1:47 The racquet change that turned the rivalry around 2:55 The teenager who learned too fast 3:37 The standard Federer said he had created 4:29 The finals Murray lost and the dinners he never had 5:07 Why Federer stopped practising with Andy Murray 6:05 The rivalry that began in Basel with an impossible shot 6:49 What the rivalries left behind