In the last two years, both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have been reducing their number of matches, especially the former.
Age, injury, the impact of the new crown epidemic, the impact of young people, all let these two superstars carefully and scientifically arrange the schedule to prolong their sports careers.
In the 2021 season, Nadal and Federer, who finished 6th and 16th at the end of the year, competed in 11 and 8 events respectively, ranking two from the bottom of the top 20 players.
Among the other players, Jannik Sina and Aslan Karatsev had the numbers of 42 and 40 respectively, while novak Djokovic, Daniel Medvedev and Alexander Zverev were 14, 23 and 23 respectively in the top 3.
Although the number of 20 Grand Slam titles has been caught up by Djokovic, and many records have been broken by Serbians and rising stars, the value created by "Fedal" is still immeasurable in terms of its contribution to tennis.
They inspired a generation, led a generation, and all didn't want them to leave the stadium, they wanted the story to continue, no matter how it was.
A few days ago, Chilean player Fernando Gonzalez also talked about this in an interview.
The 2004 Athens Olympic men's doubles gold medalist, a super forehand, said this year is clearly much better than 2020, and he personally hopes that everything will "return to normal" as much as possible in the 2022 season.
'The thing I'm most interested in myself is to see Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal return to the pitch in 2022.
"Actually, just a few years ago, people thought it was a big deal to have 10 Grand Slams, but we've got 20 Grand Slam titles now, which is amazing. When it comes to numbers, I'm sure Novak will end up in number one, and in other respects he will also have very good numbers. But for me personally, there are other factors that determine who is the greatest. ”
Gonzalez chose his old rival.
In his entire career, he has played against Federer 13 times and won only one win. Among those games he lost was the 2007 Australian Open men's singles final.
The only victory came in the 2007 ATP Shanghai Masters Year-end Finals, in which the Chileans won 3-6, 7-6, 7-5 in the group stage.
"Roger has perfect SLR, serve, return, and his style of play is the most classic. We're all waiting for Roger to come back and see how Rafa will play, and the next year will be very critical for them. At the same time, I'm looking forward to the performance of young people. Daniel Medvedev won his first Grand Slam, and I also like Andrey Rublev and Jannik Sina, who are very talented and will support our future. ”
At a time when young people are emerging and making breakthroughs, people can't help but miss the two kings and their time.
So, in March 2004, the story of 17-year-old Nadal and 22-year-old Federer meeting in the North American hard-court season was brought up again.
The Swiss were already number one player in the world at the time, but he lost twice to the young Spaniard in a 32-16 match at the Miami Masters. It was through that game that the latter shocked the world, becoming the youngest player to beat No.1 since 1990, thus capturing the attention of countless people.
It was the first of their 40 career singles matches, and their real first meeting came in the men's doubles at the Indian Wells Masters a week ago.
Nadal teamed up with Tomi Robredo to play three sets in the quarter-finals to win 2-1 over the duo of Federer and Yves Allegro.
In the handshake in front of the net and in the locker room after the game, the two future opponents chatted for a while, and then the Swiss king invited the young Spanish teenager to watch the ball in his box.
It was the men's singles quarterfinals in Indian Wells, where Federer played against Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chera.
Nadal, of course, would not shirk such a good thing, he happily accepted the invitation, sat in the world's number one box, and witnessed the 6-2, 6-1 sweep, surrounded by Mirka Federer.