Roger Federer reveals why he did not want Rafael Nadal to be a rival to him at the start: "It was a mind-bender"

Roger Federer spoke about his rivalry with Rafael Nadal in his recently-released documentary "Federer: Twelve Final Days". The documentary, which is centered around the last days of the Swiss' illustrious tennis career, was released on Amazon Prime Video in June 20.

Federer spoke about the friendship he shared with Nadal, and also spoke about his rival when he was bursting on to the scene. The Swiss said that he knew that the Spaniard would win Grand Slams

"I think the world is a bit puzzled sometimes how we can be good friends. But I think it's possible to play tough and fair, but yet on the side be friendly. When he hit the tour, you could feel that there was something really special there. He was going to win Slams, we knew it. I was at the top at the time, so for him to respect me was a very natural, normal thing," Federer said.

Federer also said that he did not want Nadal to be his rival as he liked being at the top, which he was at the time the Spaniard was rising through the ranks.

"And for me, I always thought it's very nice to support young guys coming through, so I think the relationship kicked off on a very friendly manner. And then comes obviously the time where the rivalry starts kicking in. I lost my first match against him and in the first instance, it was, like, "I don't want to have this guy here." I like being at the top alone. So I have to really find a way and dig deeper and look into myself, saying, like, "Okay, how am I going to deal with this now", because it was a bit of a mind-bender.

Federer and Nadal teamed up for the former's farewell match at Laver Cup 2022. They faced Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe but ended up on the losing side.

"I just couldn't quite figure him out and unlock him" - Roger Federer on "very shy" Rafael Nadal during the Spaniard's younger days

Federer and Nadal at the Laver Cup

Federer also spoke about how he could not "figure out" the Spaniard due to his shy persona. The Swiss said that his rival would hardly give him eye contact before adding that he became a stronger personality as the years passed by.

"I just couldn't quite figure him out and unlock him. I remember him as a young boy being very shy, struggled to give you the eye contact, you know and all that. And he always said, "Oh, whatever Roger wants, I'm happy with that." And then as time went by, he became a very strong personality, more confident as well and wanted his own ways, which I was happy to see," Federer said.

The two tennis greats locked horns on 40 occasions, with Nadal leading 24-16 in the head-to-head. 24 of their matches were finals, with Federer winning ten while the Spaniard came out on top 14 times.

The first title clash between the two came in the 2005 Miami Open, with the Swiss triumphing 2-6, 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-1. Some of their great meetings came at Grand Slam finals, notably the Wimbledon title clashes in 2007 and 2008, and the Australian Open in 2009 and 2017.

The last encounter between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal came in the semifinals of the 2019 Wimbledon Championships, with the former winning 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.