(Pictured) "Yo Rafa, I'm really happy for you and I'mma let you finish, but I'm still the greatest tennis player of all time."
Federer and Nadal have a way-too-canny mutual respect for each other as a result of having what many call one of the "greatest rivalries in sports," and probably the greatest rivalry in the history of tennis.
For years, Nadal and his youthful, balls-out style had Federer's number on clay and Federer had...well, everybody else's number on every other surface including clay. They're both wonderful sportsmen, classy gentlemen and the two faces of tennis blah, blah, blah, boring.
Does getting routinely spanked on a surface against the same opponent constitute a rivalry? Well it does for the same people who consider Roddick vs. Federer a "rivalry," but not really.
This is no McEnroe-Lendl, as the lack of racquet throwing, passive-aggressive trash-talking and the absence of me clapping like a seal and cackling like a crackhead would suggest. Tennis is far removed from the days of talking trash and boorish American behavior (trust me, I revel in those moments of boorishness like every other American), but when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga openly suggests he would go fishing with Rafael Nadal, I have to throw up in my mouth, a little bit.
Tennis has great sportsmanship, which is great, but all these guys being buddy-buddy is seriously killing me.
Federer-Nadal, in some ways, falls victim to that whole "being sportsmen" thing (apparently they're great friends off the court and ambassadors of the sport—hold on, I keep hitting the snooze button) but this "friendly rivalry" so to speak could be something else, something a tad more spicy:
The world's most abusive bromance.
Imagine, for a moment:
Enter two of the greatest players ever to play tennis, at a bar following the French Open final c. 2005
Federer: Hi Rafa, how are you?
Rafa: I'm good, just beat the best player in the world en route to my first ever Grand Slam, no big deal. How about you, Roger?
Federer: Oh, I'm good, just realized I'm going to win pretty much every major tournament outside of France for the next three years.
Rafa: Oh, yeah?
Nadal looks at Federer with an "I don't think so" look, while Federer stares deep into the eyes of Nadal. "Who is this guy?" Federer says to himself, "and why does he think he can beat me?"
They stare into each other's eyes...
The rest is history, as they say. I just realized this isn't a valid reason for why Nadal and Federer will meet in the French Open final...but I have a feeling you understand.