The Battle of Surfaces was a men's
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
exhibition match that was held on May 2, 2007, between
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
, the then top-ranked men's singles player, and
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked world No. 1 for 209 weeks, and has finish ...
, 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, in front of a home crowd at
Palma Arena
The Palma Arena (also known in Spanish as ''Velodrome Palma'') is a multisport pavilion of the city of Palma. Its construction involved major cost overruns, and massive corruption.
Its main function is hosting indoor track cycling races on a bank ...
. Nadal won a competitive match 7–5, 4–6, 7–6
(12–10).
[
]
The match
The match was played on a unique court with a clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
surface on one side of the net and grass
Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns a ...
on the other. The court cost $1.63 million to create and took 19 days to prepare. At the time, Federer had won 48 straight matches on grass courts, going five straight years undefeated on grass, while Nadal had 72 straight wins on clay, going three straight years undefeated on clay.
Before the 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. 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.
After the match, Nadal said,
It has been a nice experience, although before the match I thought it would be a disaster because I felt it would be very difficult for me to adapt to the court.
See also
* Bailey–Johnson 150-metre race
* Battle of the Sexes (tennis)
References
External links
Roger Federer, Official WebsiteRafael Nadal, Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of Surfaces
Tennis tournaments in Spain
Exhibition tennis tournaments
2007 in tennis
Sport in Mallorca
Tennis matches
2007 in Spanish tennis
Rafael Nadal tennis matches
Roger Federer