Federer vs Nadal: A debate for the senses

Greatness, exhilaration, magic, heart stopping, nerveless, peerless, ethereal etc are some of the umpteen adjectives that spring to mind whenever Federer or Nadal take to the court. It is not so much about the talent – which is unquestionable in either case – but more about the indelible after effects they leave on the watching audience.

While Federer for most is the quintessential genius at work, Nadal is more like the working class’ hero, striving with every sinew in his body to reach and return that one extra ball. Comparing them to each other is like trying to compare Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid – two cricketing Icons with entirely different skill sets but still legends in their own right.

Federer is pure poetry in motion – gliding on the court like a ballerina, unearthing impossible and yet supremely graceful shots from nowhere, dismantling supremely gifted opponents with an impish yet subtle grin on his face. The Swiss is now into his thirties – considered to be the death knell for top tennis players – and yet his fluid and surreal game play continues to astound and captivate us all.

Nadal on the other hand, is the antidote to Federer’s grace – his bulging biceps and fist pumping rages provide the ideal backdrop to the brick wall he represents on the court. A freak of an athlete with a spirit to match, he takes his place in the sun not on the back of a supremely gifted game play but an iron clad belief in his ability to return anything and everything on the court.

My introduction to tennis was prompted by Federer’s wizardry and maintained by Nadal’s stubborn defiance of the same. Nadal in his earlier days was a one trick pony – a ‘dirt’ court bludgeoner – who was brushed aside on other surfaces by Federer and some other big and not so big names. Nadal for many Federer fans (including yours truly) resembled the devil’s incarnate who was a nobody throughout the season but rose mysteriously come May (French Open time) and repeatedly dug a spanner in Federer’s march to greatness.

However, the Spanish matador to his credit wasn’t content with a seasonal role in the tennis calendar and gradually through sheer grit and continual small refinements in his game has come to be an all weather player. His duels with Federer are not for the faint hearted. The typical story line being Federer starting with a bang, pummeling Nadal in the first one and a half sets and followed with the Spaniard eating away into Federer’s momentum bit by bit, return by return and ultimately sneaking away with the match.

Statistics can only be a determining factor on so many occasions. But when you are trying to encapsulate the impact on the senses of the audience, statistics more often than not go for a toss. What a swish of Federer’s racquet or a Nadal coverage of the court at full throttle does to one’s senses is a feeling that cannot be told or expressed; it can be only felt and enjoyed. How many of us have been left gasping thin air while the commentators and the live audience are left stunned or speechless by the sheer genius of these two fine exponents of the game.

Therefore, rather than embarking on a futile discourse on the respective merits, demerits, rankings etc of these two greats it would be much better to savor the indelible moments these two provide and lift a simple game of tennis to an exercise in treating the sensory appeals to the maximum.