The Greatest Rivalry in Sports

There have been some extraordinary rivalries in the annals of men's tennis. Björn Borg and John McEnroe. McEnroe and Jimmy Connors. Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras—although -every player including me knew that on their best day Sampras would be at least 10 percent better. Roger Federer was like that, too, for a while. Tall and stylish, fluent in five languages, he cuts an elegant figure and plays to match—with a picture-perfect technique, perhaps the best of any player in history. But then came the Spaniard, Rafael Nadal, a favorite with the young, with his long hair, sleeveless shirts, strong left-handed stroke and his agile, sometimes astonishing footwork. On the court, the two men are the perfect foils for one another—Mr. Perfect vs. the Young Rebel. Result: over the past several years, tennis fans have been treated to what in my mind is the greatest rivalry the sport has ever seen.

The two men have played one another in 20 tournament finals, of which Nadal has won 13. But there was perhaps no better matchup than at last year's Wimbledon, an all-day affair with a rain delay, in which both fought hard until Nadal ultimately prevailed in five sets. It was the best Wimbledon final in memory, and I have been there myself seven times. Now, on June 22, comes the sequel—with a twist: Wimbledon, long beset by rain delays, now has a retractable roof at Centre Court—an architectural feature that will change the game for both men because the delays gave the person behind a chance to rest and, often, to catch up. Adding to the spice is Nadal's totally unexpected defeat by Sweden's Robin Soderling in the fourth round of the French Open at the end of May, a tournament he has won four times—and one in which he has not lost a match since he arrived in Paris as an 18-year-old in 2005. What will happen there is, of course, anyone's guess, but an encore Federer-Nadal performance would secure their spot as the greatest rivalry ever.