Look at the quality of those rallies.That is the reason why they are the 2nd and 3rd most successful players in Grandslam history.

Being a Federer fan and looking back at that time it's amazing to see how Nadal managed to neutralize Federer's biggest weapons from the beginning. He truly was his kryptonyte. At the time I couldn't stand it. I couldn't figure out why Federer, being n.1 and being the best in the world, couldn't come to grips with this player who looked to be promising and very good on clay but did not have his arsenal of shots and his class. Rafa inflicted me plenty of pain. But as the years went by he gained my respect and admiration. He's become one the best 3 guys of all time in this sport. It's like he was sent on earth to stop Federer and, being now older and more mature, I understand all the technical reasons why that happened in the first part of their rivalry. But my god, what a save from Roger here. Great match.

The beginning of an epic rivalry that gave us 40 meetings.

One of the all-time best rivalries in tennis. I forgot how aggressive Federer played always trying to come to the net. Great match.

Make masters 1000 best of five again!!!!

I don´t recall who said it first, but it´s true: Federer´s talent may have been God given, but Nadal taught him how to fight. What a great match - and many more were to come.

Nadal's defensive skills when he was that young were just ridiculous.

One of the things I miss the most about Roger is watching his movement and footwork. it's not jus that none of the today's players have his crazy level of talent - it's that the move like tanks on a battlefield. Roger was always so light and agile with his footwork. When John McEnroe would say he was like watching Baryshnikov some people took that as hyperbole. However, when you watch these old matches you can really appreciate just how great a mover Roger was. Even at age 38 - he still had great footwork and movement. If there's one thing young tennis players should be taking from bingeing Federer videos - it's his movement and footwork. Without it he couldn't have been so successful with the creativity of all his other fabulous creative attributes that everyone loves to admire.

Guys…Rafa and Novak eventually learned how to deviously slow down the FedExpress via exploiting the time to serve. Because of those two utilizing those tactics on both offense and defense for years and years and years, the shot clock was eventually born. Just look at how fast Rafa served here vs later in his career. Unfortunately, Roger was on the decline after that new rule was implemented…otherwise I think we’d see Roger with 30 slams.

First! Nice classic

What a match!

Thank you for broadcasting this legendary match.🎾🔥👊

It's incredible that it took 12 years for Federer to find an answer to Rafa's high shot on his backhand. In most of his matches, Roger's face looked displeased and frustrated at not being able to counteract Rafa's game. For me the best rivalry in tennis along with Nole vs Rafa

This was almost 20 yrs ago and it feels like yesterday! Oh my how time flies!

We were incredibly lucky to being able to witness the 3 best players of all time playing against each other over the last 2 decades.

This probably was rafa's only & close chance to claim Miami title as he's 2 points away from victory in 3rd set,his little bit inexperience played a part in his defeat as he run out of steam in sets 4 & 5 but those who watched this young talent from spain knew he would wreak havoc on tour in years to come including roger who predicted rafa would be the other man he's to face in many finals to come ,Tennis world didn't have to wait too long as 2005 witnessed rafa winning his first slam and many masters on clay.

これが伝説の始まりか！！

Roger had the prettiest game... he was unique.

This was my first full tournament i watched. I was just starting to try to play tennis myself. I knew Nadal was going to be special, i can't remember for sure, but i think he was ranked in the high to mid 30's at this point. Dude won rolland garos a few months later, knocked my man federer out in the semis, and beat puerta in the finals. I even tried to adopt nadals full Western forehand he had at the time because I had trouble producing topspin on my forehand, I hit my head on the follow through and decided against it😂😂😂.

What a match!