Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s rivalry isn’t really active anymore but back in the 00s, it was the hottest thing in sport. Federer was the king of grass and Nadal was the king of clay so what better way to see who was best by having them play each other on both. At the same time.
The match was dubbed the ‘Battle of Surfaces’, and was played in Mallorca, Spain on a half and half court. The court had clay on one side and grass on the other. It cost over £1 million to construct.
At that time, Federer was the top player, he was the world number one and was on a 48 match win streak on grass, Nadal was three years unbeaten on clay.
Speaking ahead of the much anticipated 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.”
“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.”
via Sportsbible
And the winner? You’ll have to watch the video to find out (if you didn’t know already or otherwise forgot).
Weird tennis court related: the floating tennis court on the Great Barrier Reef and the Milanese church tennis court art installation thing.