The day Federer defeated Nadal in Hamburg and cut his unbeaten record on a surface

It was not a match, nor one more final between the two. Roger Federer, then No. 1 in the world without discussion, and Rafael Nadal, his escort in the ATP rankingthey faced in a new definition. On May 20, 2007, exactly 16 years ago, the Swiss beat the Spaniard in Hamburg and thus ended an undefeated special, of 81 consecutive wins on clay, the longest unbeatable streak by a player on a single surface.

were days of Federer’s clear dominance on the professional circuit, with Nadal as a firm follower. But On slow courts, the Spaniard’s favorites, the left-handed man from Manacor was the lord and master. In fact, he had won 13 tournaments in a row on that floor.since 2005.

By then, Hamburg belonged to the Masters Series championship category, later became Masters 1000, What are they still called today? Federer left Argentine Juan Mónaco and the Spanish Juan Carlos Ferrero, David Ferrer and Carlos Moyá on the road, in that order, until the final date against Nadal, no less.

For his part, Nadal had eliminated his compatriot Oscar Hernández, the Russian Igor Andreev, the Chilean Fernando González and the Australian Lleyton Hewitt, losing fewer sets than the Swiss, only one against Hewitt, with a past of No. 1 ATP, like the cases of Moyá and Ferrero.

But in the very final, with enormous expectations, Federer celebrated by beating Nadal with a score of 2-6, 6-2 and 6-0. Hamburg occupied, after Monte-Carlo and Rome, the third place in the tournaments of the Masters series on brick dust, which now corresponds to Madrid.

That meeting was in the tennis history books. The thing is Nadal accumulated 81 consecutive victories on slow courts and he had even stayed with the initial set, but Federer recovered, was solid, always within his most aggressive proposal, and ended up celebrating with great joy. It is that the Spanish had not lost since the duel against the aforementioned Andreev in the quarterfinals of Valencia in 2005.

Since then, until the blow suffered against the Swiss, Nadal had won 13 consecutive tournaments on clay, including his first two Roland Garros, three cups in Monte-Carlo, in Rome and in Barcelona, plus other hits. That’s why that undefeated in 81 games remains top branduntil now impossible to break by any tennis player on the same surface.

After, Nadal admitted: “That day I asked him for the shirt to keep it in my museum.” At that time archrivals, the Spanish and the Swiss forged a great relationship, which remains unchanged. In fact, in 2022, when Federer retired, he chose the Mallorcan to play a farewell doubles together at the Laver Cup. That day, in Hamburg, he was thus engraved on fire.