2006, the year when Roger Federer shone and Rafael Nadal overshadowed him

In 2006 Roger Federer had a historic season, sweeping all who crossed his path, all except Rafael Nadal. The Spaniard was then the only antidote to the Swiss, beating him four of the five defeats he suffered in the campaign.

Roger Federer arrived in 2006 as the best player on the planet, holding the number 1 ranking for more than 2 consecutive years.

The Swiss started the campaign as a complete steamroller, accumulating a 44-3 record in the first months. Interestingly, those defeats came against the same player, Rafa Nadal, who at the age of 19 had already lifted his first Roland Garros trophy.

The first meeting between the two historic players took place in the final of the Dubai Tournament, with Rafa surprising the Swiss on a fast court by defeating him in 3 sets. Until then, Federer was on a 16-match winning streak and had already won the Austalia Open. The Spaniard would beat him again in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters and in the final of the Rome Masters.

Read also

Carlos Alcaraz opens up on modest childhood: “We didn’t have big luxuries”

Thus it was clear that Rafa became the king of clay and that Roger had found more than a stone in his shoe.

Throughout the season they would meet twice more, in consecutive Grand Slam finals. First it would be Nadal's turn to win the Roland Garros championship twice, defeating Federer in the final in four sets.

Weeks later the Swiss would have his revenge, beating the Spaniard in the Wimbledon final, also in 4 sets. Roger would go for more, and in New York he would repeat as US Open champion, thus reaching the final in all four major tournaments in 2006, something that had never happened before;

That year Rafa would break the record of consecutive victories of Argentine Guillermo Vilas, surpassing the 53 consecutive wins on clay. His numbers at the end of the season placed him as number 2 in the ranking, with the impressive record of 79 wins and 10 losses.

Although the two icons had already had some previous clashes, it was not until that season that the historic rivalry would be consolidated as the most exciting in tennis.

Federer's relentless dominance and Nadal's constant threat enlivened the tennis world and catapulted its popularity, offering epic battles that still resonate in the collective memory.