The Battle of Surfaces

The Battle of Surfaces (German: The Battle of the Coverings) was a tennis match that took place on May 2nd, 2007 in Palma , between the tennis professionals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal .

Since Federer is known as a lawn specialist and Nadal as a sand specialist, the organizer had the tennis court laid out half with lawn and the other half with sand (hence the name of the match) for around 1.2 million euros. The game was played over three sets, with both players having to play on both surfaces. Nadal won the game, in front of 7200 spectators, in the third and decisive set in the tie-break with 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (12-10). While Federer won the same number of points on both surfaces, Nadal was able to win seven rallies less on grass, but made twelve points more on ash.

The name Battle of the Surfaces is based on the tennis match " Battle of the Sexes " from 1973, when the American tennis player Billie Jean King competed against the former Wimbledon winner Bobby Riggs .

Web links

• Official homepage of The Battle Of Surfaces (inactive)