Murray laments fact that Federer and Nadal never met at the US Open

The pair were within one match of playing at Flushing Meadows on six occasions

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Wimbledon 2007

BPI / Panoramic

August 29, 2023

It is one of those quirks of the sport, something that seems hard to believe but which, despite the best efforts of both men, never quite materialised.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal met 40 times in their careers, 14 times at Grand Slams, nine of them in Grand Slam finals. But in their careers, which have spanned two decades, they never played each other at the US Open.

That contrast of styles and personalities would have lit up any night session at Flushing Meadows, just as they did at Wimbledon, Roland-Garros and the Australian Open.

Six times match-up was one step away

Six times in all, we were a match away from it happening. Twice we were within one point of it, only for Novak Djokovic to save match points, twice, in 2010 and 2011. Juan Martin del Potro also did it twice, beating Nadal in 2009 and Federer in 2017. In 2013, Tommy Robredo beat Nadal.

But the first time it almost happened was in 2008, when Andy Murray ruined it, beating Nadal on the way to his first slam final. It was one of the best moments of his career, of course, so the Scot has no reason to feel bad, but even this week, with Nadal absent and Federer retired, he was asked about what a Federer-Nadal match might have been like.

“It’s pretty amazing they never crossed paths”

“It was a shame, yeah,” Murray admitted. “It’s just one of those strange things. I mean, those guys were obviously dominating the sport for a number of years, and it just, you know, never quite happened.

“I mean, Roger won five times, Rafa won four, so yeah, pretty amazing really that they never crossed paths.

“It’s unfortunate because it would have been an amazing, amazing atmosphere. And those two when they played, it was like a proper, like clash of everything, like game styles, personalities and everything. And I think it would have been a great match.”

We will never know.