Battle Of Surfaces - The Most Iconic Exhibition Match

                 Battle Of Surface

The Battle of Surfaces was a men's tennis presentation coordinate that was hung on May 2, 2007, between Roger Federer, the then best-positioned men's singles player, and Rafael Nadal, the then World No. 2 in men's singles. The match was played in the capital city of Nadal's home island, Palma de Mallorca, before a home group at Palma Arena. Nadal won 7– 5, 4– 6, 7– 6(12– 10)

The match was played on an extraordinary court with a mud surface on one side of the net and grass on the other. The court cost $1.63 million to make and took 19 days to get ready.

At the time, Federer had won 48 straight matches on grass courts 5 straight years undefeated on grass, while Nadal had 72 straight wins on earth 3 straight years undefeated on dirt.

Prior to the match, Federer stated:

We are both looking forward to this absolutely new event. The idea really appeals to me as we both dominate one of the surfaces. Rafa holds the record of 72 victories in series on clay and I have not been defeated on grass since 48 matches. 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. People have been talking about this event for quite a while. Now it's coming up pretty soon already and I like the fact that the stadium - which is very nice, by the way - is located on Majorca, Rafa's home. He has been to Basel, after all, and now I've got the opportunity to play at his place for once.

 



The 20-year-old Spaniard, on a 72-coordinate unbeaten streak on dirt in the wake of scoring up titles at Monte Carlo and Barcelona a month ago, balanced better to the blended surface in a match that was likely the most peculiar tennis test since Billie Jean King beat Bobby Rigg in the Battle of the Sexes in 1973.

 UNIQUE COURT

The split court in Battle of Surfaces gave an unmistakable preferred standpoint to the player on the dirt side, with the higher skip giving them more opportunity to arrange their shots and move their adversary around the court.

The two players were at their most defenseless when serving from the grass end of the court as the ball has a tendency to sit up for their rivals and give them an opportunity to assault the serve.

Aside from the developments to adapt to the novel surface, the match hinted at minimal other being a presentation with the two players unmistakably resolved to guarantee the respect as the primary champ of the "battle of the surfaces" which will be played out at a similar scene for the following two years.

Their Rivalry which helped the game of Tennis to grow and reach a new level is the Greatest rivalry not only in tennis but in any other contemporary sports.
Recently Tennis Channel presented a documentary of the greatest tennis match ever played between the two giants in Wimbledon 2008 final