Battle of Surfaces

Battle of the Surfaces

Rafael Nadal vs. Roger Federer
Set 1 2 3 Rafael Nadal 7 4 712 Roger Federer 5 6 610
Date	May 2, 2007
Location	Palma de Mallorca Spain

The Battle of Surfaces was a men's tennis exhibition match that was held on May 2, 2007, between Roger Federer, then the top-ranked men's player, and Rafael Nadal, then World No. 2. The match was played in the capital city of Nadal's home island, Palma de Mallorca, in front of a home crowd at Palma Arena. Nadal won 7–5, 4–6, 7–6^(12–10).

The match was played on a unique court with a clay surface on one side of the net and grass on the other. The court cost $1.63 million to make and took 19 days to prepare. At the time, Federer had won 48 straight matches on grass courts 5 straight years Undefeated on Grass, while Nadal had 72 straight wins on clay 3 Straight years Undeafeated on Clay.

In the match, Nadal won 2 sets and Federer won 1 set, there by proving Nadal as Supreme out of the two.

Before the match, Federer said,

We are both looking forward to this absolutely new event. The idea really appeals to me as we both dominate one of the surfaces. Rafa holds the record of 72 victories in series on clay and I have not been defeated on grass since 48 matches. It'll be fun to find out what it's like to play on a court with mixed surfaces! And it ought to be interesting to see who chooses the better tactic. People have been talking about this event for quite a while. Now it's coming up pretty soon already and I like the fact that the stadium - which is very nice, by the way - is located on Majorca, Rafa's home. He has been to Basel, after all, and now I've got the opportunity to play at his place for once.

See also

• Bailey–Johnson 150-metre race
• Battle of the Sexes (tennis)

External links

• Roger Federer, Official Website
• Rafael Nadal, Official Website
• Youtube video of the match