Indian Wells: Chapter 36 of the Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal rivalry is uniquely riveting

Since meeting each other for the first time, in the third round of the Miami Open in 2004, in what would become a rivalry for the ages, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have had a customary face-off against each other in all but one of these 13 intervening years.

However, while the blemished 2016 season saw both Federer and Nadal hit their nadir, 2017 has come to be the year reviving their feisty contests. There was the most unexpected Grand Slam final at Melbourne Park in January, which saw the Swiss turnaround his lopsided head-to-head against the Spaniard a little more forcefully in his favour. And, now there is the highly-anticipated pre-quarter-final to be played between the two at Indian Wells, in what will be their 36th meeting across the net.

The continuation of the saga

“That’s why I came here [to Indian Wells], to play against guys like Rafa. Now we have it. I’m going to be excited now, I’d better be excited now otherwise I came for the wrong reasons,” the new laid-back variant of Federer remarked in his post-match interview after his third round win against Steve Johnson on Tuesday evening.

That he was able to come through – in straight sets, no less – despite the 24th ranked American being a tougher opponent is quite a complement for the Swiss, who can take plenty of heart in the manner of his win at the Australian Open against his arch-rival, where he overturned a 1-3 deficit in the fifth set to finally stake his claim on the much-coveted 18th Slam.

But, it also bears recollection on an equal footing that Nadal too has had a similarly enterprising journey into the fourth round and that despite the tilting of recent results in the Basel native’s favour, it’s he who holds considerable control in the eventual determination of the results of their matchups. This not only includes a comprehensive 13-8 win-to-loss record in the Masters tournaments, but also a slender 9-8 edge in all their previous meetings on hard court tournaments.

The implications: statistics and beyond

The latter statistic also features the pair splitting their past two clashes at Indian Wells, with Federer winning the 2012 semi-final over Nadal en route to his fourth title in the tournament and the Mallorcan exacting his revenge the very next year in the quarter-final.

While this does put substantial onus on both players to try and modulate the Indian Wells’ chapter of their rivalry in their direction, the 18-time Grand Slam champion’s inability to defeat his nemesis thrice in a row – the tally preceding to their 2015 Basel Open final – makes his task much arduous than his rival’s.

And, though his 30-year-old rival knows he has been holding the upper-hand all along, he is by no means taking their latest encounter lightly. “He has the talent to do very difficult things that look easy. He’s able to take the ball very early. He creates a lot of winners with [his serve and first shot],” Nadal gushed about his fiercest competitor, after his win over countryman Fernando Verdasco in the round of 32.

The 14-time Grand Slam champion was also quick to summarise the salient points of Federer’s game as if revising the toughest aspects about facing it head-on. “And then he’s able to take the ball always from inside, and he’s very quick going to the net. If you play a short ball, then you know that he’s going to go inside and going to hit a winner, going to play a shot [to your] forehand or backhand, goes to the net, and you are going to be in big trouble.”

It’s then in the last description that the nuances of their competitive engagement seeps through, as the duo’s friendship transcends into well-spirited duelling when tackling each other inside the boundaries of the tennis court.

Likewise, much as their vociferousness in trying to one-up the other, over the course of a protracted decade is a measure of their longevity, it also finely separates them from the hoi polloi of the rivalries existing in tandem, however intriguing they are perceived to be.