—A 17-year-old Nadal’s 6-3, 6-3 win over Federer in their round of 32 match in 2004 has always reminded me of 18-year-old John McEnroe’s win, by a similar 6-3, 6-4 score, in his first match against Bjorn Borg, in front of the King of Sweden in Stockholm in 1978. In both cases, the upstart ambushed the older No. 1 player. In both cases, the upstart knew right away that he could play with, and beat, the legend. That knowledge would help both Nadal and McEnroe throughout their careers.
—Federer was sick during this tournament, and you can see he’s not at his best from the first point in this clip, a forehand volley that he drills into the net. Nadal said afterward (his pressers were translated from Spanish then), “Obviously, he didn’t play his best tennis and that’s the reason why I could win. I mean, if he had played his best tennis, I would have had no chance. But that’s what happens in tennis. If a player like me plays at a very, very high level, and a top player like Roger doesn’t play his best tennis, I can win."
Some things never change, do they? As Federer said of Rafa that night, “He looks at me as an incredible great player.” But he also knew about Nadal. “I’ve heard a lot about him,” Federer said, “and saw some matches of his. I think this [result] is not a big surprise for everybody.”
—Nadal said he tried to dictate the points and not let Federer play his game. A baby-faced Rafa looks loose here, hitting with more abandon then he normally does. His backhand was on, he was stepping in and hitting return winners with his forehand, he was sneaking into the net. He even served well that night. As Rafa said afterward, “I’m very happy because I play one of the best matches of my life.” I hope so; it would have been a little weird if he had said that he'd played much better in the Little Aces junior championship the year before.
—Federer was coming off a dominant performance at that year’s Australian Open. He had pretty much toyed with the field. But Nadal, who had lost to Lleyton Hewitt in Melbourne that year, was obviously something new. Here, Federer does get looks at forehands; there wasn’t a lot of the stereotypical Nadal forehand to Federer backhand dynamic, at least in these highlights. Federer doesn’t do much with his chances, doesn’t create many opportunities. Afterward, he said of Nadal’s shots, “He hits more with a lot of spin, which makes the ball bounce high, and that’s a struggle I had today. I tried to get out of it, but kind of couldn’t.”
Last week Rafa said that this match felt like it happened "100 years ago." But a lasting tone was set for many more, and better, encounters to come. It didn't, however, set much of a tone for the rest of Rafa's tournament. He would lose his next match, in three sets, to Fernando Gonzalez.
