Roger Federer Has No ‘Bad Blood’ With Archrival Rafael Nadal

Roger Federer of Switzerland acknowledges spectators after winning his men's singles match against Diego Sebastian Schwartzman of Argentina at the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris May 28, 2014. REUTERS/Jean-Paul Pelissier REUTERS

Roger Federer first met Rafael Nadal in the third round of Miami tournament in 2004. Federer was already making a name for himself, having already won two Grand Slam titles, while the 32^nd seed Nadal was just barely starting out. Whoever knew that it was going to be the beginning of their legendary rivalry?

Federer and Nadal have one of the most prominent rivalries in the history of tennis. Often, rivalries in sports lead to intense thrash talk and endless bickering. However, the rivalry between Federer and Nadal is nothing but a friendly competition, and the Swiss fourth-ranked proved it by applauding Nadal's recent success in the 2014 French Open.

During an interview in Halle for the upcoming 2014 Gerry Weber Open where the Swiss six-time title holder is slated to compete as reported by ATPworldtour.com, Federer said that he watched part of Nadal's finals match against Novak Djokovic in Paris. Federer said he was happy for the Spaniard athlete's victory in the 2014 French Open.

"I was very happy for him because it's tremendous what he proves on clay every year," Federer said.

Federer said it was just prudent to tip the hats off and praise Nadal for his performance in the French Open. "You have to raise your hat to him."

"For me, it was clear before that he is the favourite. Now, everybody says that it was evident that he'll win. But before it was said that he can't play tennis anymore because he had lost on clay twice."

"Therefore, I think it's nice that he proved them otherwise."

Federer and Nadal are both participants in the 2014 Gerry Weber Open. Nadal is on a quest to win his first title. Federer, on the other hand, is looking to defend the title which he had previously won six times. Federer will face Portugal's Joao Sousa while Nadal will play against Dustin Brown of Germany in the first round.