What sparked Federer ?
Read: Federer vs. Nadal – The Rivalry
“I think sometimes, I play my best tennis against him when I am ready to play my best tennis. I don’t play my best tennis because it’s Roger,” said Nadal.
“It’s true I played a lot of good matches against him during my career, so it is something fantastic. But I believe that he played a few fantastic matches against me too during his career, during our rivalry. I enjoy playing against him. It’s always a special feeling because our matches always have been special, and especially today.”
It was a defeat that began to spark questions about Federer’s prospects of ever returning to World No. 1 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings and breaking Pete Sampras’ record reign. With Nadal going onto contest an epic finale with Djokovic in Melbourne, their third successive Grand Slam final meeting, all signs pointed to the Spaniard and the Serb dominating the Top 2 positions in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, as they had done in 2011.