Federer–Nadal rivalry

The tennis rivalry between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal is considered one of the greatest in the history of the sport. Federer and Nadal played each other 40 times, with Nadal leading 24–16 overall, including 14–10 in finals.

Of their 40 matches, 20 were on hardcourts, 16 on clay, and 4 on grass. Nadal leads on clay (14–2), while Federer leads on grass (3–1) and hard court (11–9). A total of 14 matches were at the majors, with Nadal leading 10–4. Nadal leads 6–0 at the French Open and 3–1 at the Australian Open, while Federer leads 3–1 at Wimbledon. On several occasions, they were a match away from meeting at the US Open, but were denied each time. They are tied in five-set encounters at 3–3.

Nadal ranks second and Federer ranks third on the men's all-time list for the most major singles titles, with 22 and 20 titles respectively, and the pair hold numerous other records between them. During a stretch of 23 majors from the 2005 French Open to the 2010 US Open, the pair won all but two of these events, including eleven consecutively. They won a further six consecutive majors between the 2017 Australian Open to the 2018 French Open. They are the only pair of men to have finished six consecutive calendar years as the top two ranked players on the ATP Tour, which they did from 2005 to 2010, and for a seventh time in 2017. This includes a record 211 consecutive weeks sharing the top two rankings from July 2005 to August 2009.

As tournament seedings are based on rankings, with the top two seeds placed on opposite sides of the draw, 24 of Nadal and Federer's 40 matches were in tournament finals, including an all-time record nine major finals and 12 Masters finals. Another ten were semifinals with only three taking place before the quarterfinal stage.

From 2006 to 2008, they contested every French Open and Wimbledon final. Their 2008 Wimbledon final was lauded as the greatest match ever by many long-time tennis analysts. Their 2017 Australian Open final was one of the most highly anticipated matches in tennis history, in part due to the relevance within popular discussions on their placement in greatest-of-all-time listings, coupled with the fact that they were both already in their 30s. Other matches considered particularly notable include the 2005 Miami Open final, 2006 Italian Open final, 2007 Wimbledon final, and 2009 Australian Open final, all of which went to five sets.

Their first match was at the 2004 Miami Open, which Nadal won in straight sets. Their last match was in the semifinals of the 2019 Wimbledon Championships, which Federer won in four sets.