Rafael Nadal laments that he and Roger Federer have been unable to face off at the U.S. Open. Federer lost to Tommy Robredo in the fourth round; a win would have meant a quarterfinal against Nadal. Nadal and Federer have played each other in the finals of the Australian Open, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon.
“To be honest, going to be great if we were able to play that final, because I felt that our rivalry for so many years we were able to play in all the best scenarios, stadiums, around the world,” said Nadal, who defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber. “Played the rest. Three finals of the Grand Slams. So probably that deserves to have that match here in the U.S. Open, too, the biggest court of the world. But didn’t happen. That’s don’t mean cannot happen in the future. Hopefully. But is true that we are getting older, so the chances are less today than five years ago.”
Federer added that it wasn’t “much of a disappointment at the end of the day. If I’m playing like this, I’m not going to beat Rafa, or Kohlschreiber, for that matter. I didn’t think of that. I’ve been too often in this situation. I was fighting with other things in my match today. Not thinking too far ahead of myself, especially the level I was playing at.”