Battle of Surfaces
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The Battle of Surfaces was an ATP Men's Tennis exhibition match that was held on May 2, 2007. The contest was fought out between the world number 1, Roger Federer and world number 2, Rafael Nadal, with Nadal finally prevailing 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (12-10). What made the match unique was that it was played on a hybrid court which was half clay and half grass. The event was held in the capital city of Rafael Nadal's home island, Palma de Mallorca, in front of a home crowd at Palma Arena.
The reason for constructing a hybrid court is that, when this match was played, Roger Federer had dominated the grass court with 48 straight victories while Rafael Nadal had dominated the clay court with 72 straight victories.[1] While Federer won an equal number of points on both surfaces, Nadal won seven fewer on grass but twelve more on clay.
The court cost 1.63 million dollars and took 19 days to prepare.[2]
[edit] Thoughts on the Event
Roger Federer was quoted saying:
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.
– Roger Federer, Official Website
