Federer–Nadal rivalry

The Federer–Nadal rivalry (known colloquially as Fedal) is between two professional tennis players, Roger Federer of Switzerland and Rafael Nadal of Spain. They are engaged in a storied rivalry, which many consider to be the greatest in tennis history. They have played 37 times, most recently in the final of 2017 Miami, and Nadal leads their thirteen-year-old rivalry with an overall record of 23–14.

Federer and Nadal are the only pair of men to have finished six consecutive calendar years as the top two ranked players on the ATP Tour, which they did from 2005 to 2010. This included a record 211 consecutive weeks sharing the top two rankings from July 2005 to August 2009.

Of their 37 matches, 19 have been on hard court, 15 have been on clay, and three have been on grass. The results of their matches are somewhat polarized by playing surface. Federer has a winning record on hard courts (10–9) and grass (2–1), while Nadal leads on clay (13–2). Nadal also leads the head-to-head of their 12 Grand Slam matches (9–3), with five of these wins on the clay courts of Roland Garros, and two of the losses on grass at Wimbledon.

As tournament seedings are based on rankings, with the top two seeds placed on opposite sides of the draw, 23 of Nadal and Federer's 37 matches have been in tournament finals, including an all-time record nine Grand Slam finals and 11 Masters Series finals. Another nine have been semifinals, two have been quarterfinals, with only three taking place before the last-8 stage. In 30 matches out of 37 between Nadal and Federer, the winner of the first set won the match.

From 2006 to 2008, they played in every French Open and Wimbledon final. Their 2008 Wimbledon final was lauded as the greatest match ever by many long-time tennis analysts. Their 2017 Australian Open final was widely regarded as among the most highly anticipated Grand Slam finals of all time due to the tennis history that would be made from either player's victory, the subsequent implications on both players' respective legacies, and the relevance within popular and critical discussions on who between them can claim to be 'the greatest tennis player of all time'.

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