#this is a proper jstor length essay i am sorry

[zingaplanet]

*pokes with a stick hoping another fedal essay rolls out*

In your opinion, what was the moment that Rogers and Rafa's relationship became more than colleagues/rivals/idol and admirer? I think I read a Roger quote that after Wimbledon 2008 he had acknowledge he had an equal, but they seemed to get along well already before 2008

Oh this is such a good question! Yes they did get along really well already before 2008, but it's mostly admiration on Rafa's side and mentor-like friendliness on Roger's side I think. I always felt like before 2008 Roger was kind of in the "he's a young kid coming up I want to make sure he's welcomed" nice vibe, which he still goes into now (and rafa too lol) if you look at the way he treats the younglings in LC (Casper, Domi, Stef, etc). This is really sweet actually, I remember him saying that when he was an upcoming player the locker room wasn't that friendly n he never had that feeling of having a mentor or being welcomed 🥺🥺(Sampras and Agassi were basically at each other's throats and the rest weren't exactly hangout buddies). That's why he wanted to create a nicer atmosphere for newcomers and he was really happy that the top players (especially rafa n roddick n hewitt etc) kinda vibe with this as well and were really nice to the newcomers!

This is why I felt like the phrase that an athlete can never be bigger than its own sport doesn't apply to tennis because Roger Federer IS bigger than tennis itself. Yet in doing so, he somehow doesn't diminish the sport but uplifts it with him, it's amazing (the only other example I can think of is Muhammad Ali). He brought so much changes to the sports, not only the media attention (and thus the funding it receives) also more subtle behind the scene acts like this that others won't notice but the players will. He was also one of the trendsetters of philantrophism in high level sports I think, if not directly perhaps indirectly through the standards and expectations he set as a top athlete (he def inspired rafa and novak to set up their own foundations). That's why I think when Rafa said "he's the most important player of our sports" he's not really exaggerating. Rafa works closely with Roger on the player's council so he knows exactly how much influence Roger has had over the sports throughout the years.

A side note to this, it's actually fascinating if you look at Roger and Rafa not as players but as Federer and Nadal the people and their actual roles in the sport. They are, without a doubt (even if nobody would say it explicitly) the most powerful people in tennis. I mean literally their sponsors are the TOURNAMENTS' SPONSORS (Rolex, KIA, credit suisse????). Their words are technically gospel. Which is why I have the utmost respect for them both, I think it takes not only an incredible tennis player but also human being to carry that power and responsibility with such grace, with no known crazy scandal for over 25 years of their professional career, always staying neutral but true. They were the only two who won the sportsmanship award multiple times!

Both of them actually always said that they hate the bureaucratic/political side of the sport (roger even cackled when they asked him if he wants to join the administrative side of the tournaments after his retirement lol) but I think over time they realised that it is THEIR sports and like it or not, the politics will influence their life and career. Rafa said this in his recent spanish interview with Marca and that's why him and Roger actually rejoined the player's council in the end.

This discussion has veered off to the political side too much and I don't want to derail it even further but I also think it's important to understand tennis beyond the matches and the tournaments. It's a very political sport, probably one of the most political, given the amount of money going through it. I also brought it up because it actually has a relation to the point you raise. This unequal mentor-mentee relation is actually visible if you see Roger and Rafa's history in the player's council and their interaction BEYOND the court. Around 2008ish if I'm not wrong, Rafa became part of the council (then he was still no 2 behind Federer) as VICE-PRESIDENT to Federer. This is where Roger's famous speech ("Rafa was such a shy kid, he used to always say whatever roger wants I'm happy with it") came from I suppose because he really was a very reserved persona who trusted Roger blindly in his decisions.

BUT starting from 2008 ish, Rafa started becoming more and more vocal of his opinions, and him and Roger actually disagreed quite a lot which peaked when he quit the council in 2011 (oh those crazy dramatic years 😭). There was quite a lot of media fuss when he quit, I think young, passionate Rafa wasn't that adept still in knowing what to disclose or not to disclose to the media and luckily Roger, forever the swiss, remained neutral and refused to comment which I actually think was the right move, otherwise it would've ruined their relationship forever if they actually got into media spats. And I believe this change in late 2000s wasn't incidental, it was precisely because Rafa won Wimbledon. I remember it was like a shift in the public opinion, that he finally broke the stigma of the 'clay court specialist' and that he was able to beat Federer on his home turf. It probably also impacted his self confidence a lot.

The difference is evident now. When they actually rejoined the council (in 2021 when Roger didn't know he was going to leave yet 🥺), I'm not sure who's the current president, but they didn't join to occupy HIERARCHICHAL positions, that is they were simply voted in as EQUAL members. They also both explicitly said to the media that they only joined because the other is joining, and if they were doing it they wanted to do it together.

This says several things, mainly that they have obviously talked through their main disagreements of the past (which was actually really2 contentious), are completely ok with each other, AND that they see themselves as ultimate EQUALS.

So yes, to answer your question in a very long and distracted way lol, I do think 2008 or at least the breaking of the no 1 ranking barrier was the key.

A very interesting side effect to this, although I'm not entirely sure whether this was subtly intended or just an expected consequence, is that Federer and Nadal, post 2015 ish present themselves as irreversibly, undeniably UNITED. They did this through subtle things, like donating money JOINTLY for the Australian fire relief (to set up an example for other players to donate). This is incredibly critical to the political dynamic, because as I said, both of them are the most powerful people in the game. When Roger and Rafa joined the Player's Council they were actually making a statement. Djokovic was a notable absent from the council because he quit a few months before (although he was president up until 2020) to set up his own group the Professional Tennis Players' Association (PTPA) 🥲. Roger and Rafa even explicitly responded to the proposal when it was announced, calling for “unity, not separation”.

This was why Roger said that behind the tennis Rafa and him "are so much more alike in so many ways", they have technically become of the same minds. Although they've had their disagreements, they've managed to be civil and fixes their relationship to present a united front for the sport. It's very fascinating to dissect why this is the case. Perhaps it's one of those wicked things the universe wants to demonstrate: That those of polar opposites are actually the perfect complement to one another. A bit like two sides of the same coin, they might not face the same way but in the end they're one and the same! 😉

#my name is z and i have a confession #i have let myself go again this time #this is a proper jstor length essay i am sorry #ik i'm extra i'm sorry you guys should learn not to enable me by now #fedal #tennis #asks #roger federer #rafael nadal #novak djokovic