Maybe you can say it all seemed inevitable, but if we go back to the 2009 Australian Open Final, it was the last slam before our three GOATs took over tennis history for good. It was the first slam where Federer had the chance to equal Pete Sampras's record of 14 slams (hilarious to think that was the record). He would do so in the next slam at the French, then break it at Wimbledon. Now, Sampras is in 4th place. The guy Federer shares his lead with won his sixth slam that fateful night in Melbourne. The guy hot on their heels with 17 slams to Fed and Rafa's 20 had just one at that point. It's amazing how absurdly dominant the Big-3 were for the duration of the 2010s, but at one point it was all so different - a point where Nadal won a forgotten classic, a shotmaking delight and made Federer break down in tears in defeat. It was a stunning, memorable night in Melbourne.
Let's start at the end, the sight of Roger Federer in tears. Federer has always been an emotional person - over the years we'd come to realize so was Nadal. He had cried multiple times in victory, and let out a few small tears when Nadal beat him in Wimbledon in 2008, but this was different. Here he bawled. As someone who was very much anti-Federer at the time, and very much pro-Nadal, this was amazing. And I'll admit I loved it.
I have a friend who is a die-hard Federer fan. Years later in 2014 we made a bet for $200 on who would end up with more slams (the count was 17-14 at the time). I have another good friend who was a big tennis fan who hated Fed like I did. There are few more lasting, running jokes in our friend trio than the "Oh God, it's killing me!" cry that Federer let out right before he lost control of holding back. At the time, we made fun of him being whiny, being someone who just couldn't handle losing. Over time, as Federer himself would increasingly accept Nadal as not only a rival, but fully an equal, we would also learn to appreciate that moment.
Federer had long lost to Nadal on clay, but for 2004-2007 that was about it. Finally, he lost on grass, but not to fear, he was still peerless on hard court. And now, in excruciating circumstances, in a match that by and large he outplayed Rafa, he lost again - lost the last surface that had been his refuge. And he did it in his first chance to equal the record. Nadal was too taken aback by the scene, of Federer truly unable to stop from crying. He said his normal "sorry, Roger" that got some laughs, but then turned the poignancy on, saying "I'm sure you would pass the record of Sampras", but at that time it felt so far away.
To go backwards, the match itself was amazing,. I watched it on DVR (amazingly, was already a thing by 2009) as it starts live at 3:30 AM in New York, but from the start, a thrilling 20-or-so shot rally, it was pulsating. It didn't have the overwhelming storylines of the 2008 Wimbledon Final, but it was about its equal in terms of pure shotmaking. Nadal hitting running forehand after running forehand. Federer perfecting his own cross-court forehad that would kill Nadal. There were crazy rallies, incredible slices and drop-shots. It would culminate in a shot a good three hours in that would symbolize everything great between these two.
The match started with back-to-back breaks. While this is not so normal in the Federer v Nadal rivalry as it is in the Nadal v Djokovic one, it was another great sign to show how different Nadal could play Federer compared to everyone else. Nadal had played a dramatic 5-set, 5-hr win over Fernando Verdasco in the semifinals - a match with such ludicrous degree of shotmaking. Federer cruised all two weeks and beat Roddick in three easy sets in his semifinal. One service game for Federer into the match it was clear this was different.
Nadal won the first set 7-5 and the third 7-6. He was winning close - Federer was not, winning 6-3 and 6-3 in his two sets. But deep in the fourth set, they played maybe the best single game of the rivalry, with Federer leading 2-1. It featured four break poiints, six deuces, a dropshot winner, two aces, a huge forehand winner from each player, and add to all that maybe the ebst single point the two ever played against each other.
Words can't describe the point the two played on their 4th deuce. After three or so cutting shots, Federer hit the crosscourt forehand taken early that dominated opponenst all tournament. Nadal somehow got to it in-time to hit a cutting forehand down the line that hugged the line. Against anyone that was a clear beautiful winner. It wasn't, since Federer got to it and hit the 'squash-shot' that he made famous. That too was hit perfectly cross-court. I'm still not sure how Nadal made it all the way over in time, especially with a delayed start after he rightfully assumed he hit a winner. But he did, sliding into a backhand jab that was hit to the baseline. Federer hit another cross-court forehand and Nadal just got to hit with an outstretched racket and hit a down the line winner. He threw his hands up in exalted desperation. It wass beautiful, it was the point of their lives. It was everything tennis was during the height of the Nadal and Federer rivalry, two opposing players pushing each other to limits never before seen.
The only dour part of the match was the fifth set, that Nadal ran away with. I still don't know how Rafa, fresh off a 5-hr semifinal (with one less day of rest, with the Oz open playing the two SFs on different days) was the fresher, the stronger, the faster player in the fifth set, but he was. Federer was no match, seeing his chance at #14 slip away. That wasn't as meaningful, and didn't lead as much to the tears, as the fact he lost to Nadal again. Nadal would always be there. In time he would learn to accept it, much like me as a Nadal fan grew to accept Federer's brilliance as well (helps we have a joint enemy in Djokovic - somethign that seemed unthinkable twelve years ago). But at that moment, this amazing moment in tennis history, the rivalry reached its simultaneous low and high.
Federer crying is the moment we will always remember - that or Nadal's incredible shot on that play, befitting an "Unbelievable!" from Dick Enberg, and a "That was insane!" by normally chill Darren Cahill. But what I will remember is it was the turning point in how we view the rivalry, the image of Nadal, trophy in hand, consoling a crying Federer. We didn't know it at the time, the long road to 20-20 would start at that very moment, even if it felt so far away at the time.
