7 4 5 6 Date 2 May 2007 | 4 7 6 6 | |
Location Palma Arena
Palma, Majorca, Spain | ||
The Battle of Surfaces was a men's tennis exhibition match that was held on May 2, 2007, between Roger Federer, the then top-ranked 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, in front of a home crowd at Palma Arena. Nadal won 7–5, 4–6, 7–6(12–10).
Contents
The match
The match was played on a unique court with a clay 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 prepare. 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 clay 3 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.
2016 Battle of Surfaces
Another Spanish exhibition with the same name will be held on 2 December 2016, this time between local native Garbiñe Muguruza and Russian Maria Sharapova. It will take place in Madrid's Caja Mágica tennis complex. This exhibition will also be held on a court with a half-grass and half-clay surface.