Roger Federer - “I don’t know Rafael Nadal enough off-site, but he’s like a tiger in the cage and I feel I’m very relaxed”

Roger Federer recently compared his personality with that of Rafael Nadal and said the Spaniard is like a tiger in a cage on the courts.

Federer was recently in China to attend the 2023 Shanghai Masters tournament. He was felicitated with the Icon Athlete Award on Friday, October 13, during a ceremony in the presence of Chinese legend Li Na and China's No. 1 Zhizhen Zhang.

The Swiss also joined ATP Tennis Radio Podcast for a brief conversation, where he talked about his visits to China as a player. The 20-time Grand Slam winner also discussed his close friend and professional rival Rafael Nadal. He and Nadal faced each other three times in the Asian country before his retirement in the year 2022.

The pair's first two encounters in China were the Tennis Masters Cup (now ATP Finals) semifinals in 2006 and 2007. The third match was played in 2017 at the Shanghai Masters. Incidentally, Federer won all the matches in straight sets.

In a rivalry that saw 40 high-intensity battles on the court, Federer often kept a cool head whereas Nadal was all about aggression. During the conversation on the podcast, the Swiss commented on the differences in their personality.

"I don’t know Rafa [Nadal] enough off-site, but he’s like a tiger in the cage whenever I see him at the courts and I feel I’m very relaxed on and off-site. He has incredible intensity, he’s always warming up, he’s always going around and there’s always much stuff to do for him and he’s preparing and you can feel like there’s always a match on his mind," he said.

The 42-year-old added that although he thinks the two players were more similar than it seemed, their approach on the court differed.

"I don’t know if we’re so opposite you know. But yeah, I guess, to some extent, I’m may be more calm more relaxed whereas he goes, especially through the tennis days in a more intense way when he’s on-site," the 42-year-old added.

Nadal enjoys a better record over the Swiss with a convincing lead of 24-16 in the head-to-head record.

Roger Federer- "It's a tough tour and you have got to find ways to relax"

China Tennis Shanghai Masters, 2023.

Roger Federer also weighed in on the importance of switching off mentally during downtimes on the Tour. He suggested that unwinding is crucial for a player in order to maintain a long career.

"I’m sure that when it’s all over, every player finds a way to unwind because if you don’t, you can’t exist on the tour for as long as it lasts. It’s a tough tour and you have got to find ways to relax," he said.

Federer retired with 103 singles titles to his name. His trophies include 20 Grand Slams, six year-end championships and 28 ATP Masters 100 titles. He is second only to Novak Djokovic in terms of weeks spent as the World No. 1 in men's singles. The Swiss stayed at the top for 310 weeks, while Djokovic is currently in his 395th week in pole position.