Australian Open 2012: Continuing the Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal Rivalry

Rivalries are certainly not hard to find in the sports world. Baseball has the classic and age-old rivalry of the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Basketball boasts a rivalry between the Boston Celtics and L.A. Lakers, the teams that combined possess half of the total number of NBA titles.

While team rivalries like these have produced great games in the past, there is no current rivalry that has given such amazing moments as has the great tennis rivalry between the former world No. 1, Roger Federer and his toughest opponent in No. 2 ranked Rafael Nadal.

The Federer-Nadal rivalry was and still is one for the ages. With Federer and Nadal ranked first and second, respectively, fans watched every moment hoping they would make it through their sections of the draw en route to a finals matchup that was to be electric.

Sure enough, a record eight Grand Slam finals between 2004 to 2011, saw these two matched up head to head. Overall, the two have met 26 times with 19 of them being in tournament finals. Remarkably from 2006 to 2008, the two met in every French Open and Wimbledon final with Fed winning all but the 2008 Wimbledon on the grass courts of the All England Tennis Club and Rafa dominating as the "King of Clay" by winning three consecutive titles on the courts of Roland Garros.

Head to head Rafa leads the rivalry 17-9, but that number isn't fully telling of the great tennis played between these two and the rivalry it has created.

In 2008, Federer and Nadal took to Centre Court at the All England Club to give us one of the greatest tennis matches this world has ever seen. As rain fell threatening to cancel the match, Nadal and Federer took to the courts anyway. After the first rain delay, Rafa took a commanding two sets to none lead. Federer was up 5-4 in the third set which was stopped by yet another delay.

After the delay ended, some of the most inspired tennis ever played occurred as Fed battled back to win the next two sets, both in tiebreaks. With four sets played and the match all tied up, the men returned to the court to finish it once and for all. Both served with precision and after twelve games played, a winner was still not to be had as the men were tied 6-6. As Wimbledon rules dictate, a final set tiebreak is not to be played so as a result the match continued. Nadal finally managed to break Federer in the final set and took the match and his first Wimbledon title by a final of 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7. 

Throughout their careers, both men had annually been ranked in the top two. Both established records as being ranked one and two and they also were the only pair to be ranked as the top two for two calendar years. The 2008 Wimbledon Final, however, marked the end of Federer's run at No. 1. Nadal overtook him shortly after and many began to question if Fed was on the decline in favor of the rise of the younger Nadal.

Although Federer did manage to win four more Grand Slam titles since his loss to Nadal in 2008, he has not since beaten his arch-nemesis in another Grand Slam final. In fact, two of the four have come in tournaments where Rafa suffered due to tendinitis in both of his knees.

Over the course of his career, Federer has been regarded as the best to ever play the game. His 16 titles are the most of any man and the amount of finals he has appeared in is second to none. Federer also had a stretch where he accomplished an amazing feat of making seven consecutive tournament finals. He won Wimbledon five times in a row and was also a five in a row champion at the US Open. The only thing keeping Fed from garnering the undisputed title of Best Ever is the one enemy he has failed to beat with consistency and the only player to ever beat him in a Grand Slam final, and that is Nadal.

Nadal is Federer's kryptonite, and it is safe to say that without his existence in the world of tennis, that Federer could easily possess 20 or more Grand Slam titles. Despite derailing Fed's path to 20, I for one am glad Nadal has been in the game because those finals have provided simply amazing and entertaining tennis to watch.

The rivalry, although somewhat subdued by Novak Djokovic taking the top rank in the world, is still alive and well. In 2010, Federer and Nadal claimed all four of the Grand Slams between them and then in 2011, the two once again met in the French Open finals.

Even though Djokovic-Nadal is emerging as the rivalry of the future, Nadal-Federer is still the best rivalry of this decade and maybe in the history of the sport. Even though the glory won't come in the 2012 Aussie Open finals, a Nadal-Federer semi is just as fulfilling. The stage is set for a great match and another chapter in this all-time great rivalry.