Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal: Is the Honeymoon Over?

The current generation of top tennis players has been known for showing class and respectfulness in their relationships, which are filled with politically correct statements to the press and ethical conduct on the courts.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have always shown great respect for each other and even signs of true friendship, a rare behavior especially if compared to the previous generation of Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe.

However, signs that the Swiss and the Spaniard may no longer see eye to eye started becoming evident lately. It all started when they supported different candidates for the presidency of the ATP, which was a battle won by Federer.

Things continued to heat up in the Australian Open, when Nadal stated that Federer doesn’t speak up on the players’ behalf, and let the others burn their image while doing so—especially regarding the always-controversial scheduling issue.

Roger kept his composure at the time and didn’t make any harsh comments about it, letting the subject die.

The counterpunch came just this week in Indian Wells, when the Swiss said that he doesn’t understand how umpires let Nadal get away without a warning and subsequent penalties, for his usual delays of game. It is notorious that Rafa clearly exceeds the 25 seconds break allowed between points, not to mention the amount of time he takes to serve, especially on big points.

The world No. 2 replied by saying that he has been penalized in the past and that this should be at the umpires’ discretion through the use of common sense, respecting the different moments of the different matches, clearly sending a message that the rule shouldn’t be applied on every point of every match.

Regardless of who is right and who is wrong—if there is a right and wrong in this case—it is clear that there is some tension between the two great players, which is a change in the pattern of the last 10 years.

Roger and Rafa are set to meet in the semifinal of Indian Wells—should they both reach that far—and this recent sequence of events could add some extra spice to the already highly-anticipated matchup.

Despite all of that, these two are very classy and there will probably never be any public comment by either player regarding their friendship, or the end of it.

What is undeniable, however, is that all this talk back and forth provides enough evidence that something happened along the way that may have caused the stellar honeymoon to be over.