Roger Federer ended his career with a positive record over most of his opponents on the ATP Tour, but 12 players managed to get the better of the Swiss star.
Only Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Pat Rafter, Tomas Enqvist, Alex Corretja, Franco Squillari, Gustavo Kuerten, Wayne Ferreira, and Dominik Hrbaty ended their careers by beating Federer more times than he beat them.
Every other player ended their career on the wrong side of Federer, but David Nalbandian notched up an excellent early record against the Swiss star.
The Argentine produced a marvellous winning streak against the multi-time Grand Slam champion in Federer’s early days.
David Nalbandian’s five victories in a row against Roger Federer
Nalbandian became Federer’s bogey player in the early 2000s by defeating the Swiss star in their first five matches.
The tricky Argentine knocked Federer out of two Grand Slams in 2003, at the Australian Open and the US Open.
Nalbandian also beat the star on home soil at the Swiss Indoors, defeating the star in three sets in Basel and at the Cincinnati Open.
Federer eventually turned their head-to-head record around by winning eight of their next nine matches between 2003 and 2006.
The Swiss star ended his career with a positive head-to-head record against Nalbandian, having won 11 of their 19 meetings.
What Roger Federer said after he first beat David Nalbandian
Federer’s first victory over Nalbandian came at the 2003 ATP Finals in the round robin phase of the format.
He won the match in straight sets and dropped just three games in the entire match, buoyed by bagelling his bogey opponent in the second set.
Speaking after the match, Federer said: “He didn’t play as well as in the previous matches against me but I also changed the approach and fixed a few things.
“I like the surface, you can hit flat shots, slices, kick, rush to the net. I didn’t feel comfortable against Nalbandian from the baseline; that’s why I played serve & volley.
“Today, I decided to stay back and attack after two or three strokes. That worked fine for me, with his returns landing short most of the time. I was patient and aggressive at the same time, avoiding those long rallies where he is solid. He felt good before the previous encounters against me.”
Federer won the ATP Finals for the first time in his career that year after dispatching Andre Agassi in the final.
