Despite his intense rivalry with Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer admitted that he sensed potential in the Spaniard the first time they met in the tennis court.
The Swiss Maestro isn't hiding a lot of things these days. In a recent interview with Tennis Magazine, the 34-year old Federer compared his skill-level when he was a teenager to that of other prodigious sporting stars at their teens like Nadal, Martina Hingis and Tiger Woods. He stressed while he believed he had extraordinary talent at that time, it wasn't as refined as those mentioned superstars possessed.
"I have a lot of talent but not like Tiger Woods, Rafael Nadal and Martina Hingis," said Federer, who announced this week that he'll be competing at the Miami Masters - his first tournament after undergoing surgery to fix a torn meniscus on his knee last January.
Federer also revealed that he knew Nadal was destined for greatness the moment he faced Nadal in the court, saying 'it was clear Nadal was going to be world's no.1' in a very competitive era.
"It was clear that the Spaniard would become the number one already in very competitive times," the 34-year old Swiss said.
Federer and Nadal faced each other 34 times with the latter winning 23 of those matches. Their first showdown happened at the 2004 Miami Masters, where Nadal stunned the then world's no.1 Federer in straight sets.
From that point, both competitors went on to rack up a combined 31 Grand Slams. Federer shattered all kinds of record during his prime, and stealing the crown as the Greatest Player of All Time from Pete Sampras before the end of the last decade.
On the other hand, Nadal established himself as the finest clay-court player in history, winning a record nine Roland Garros championships and earning himself the title as the King of Clay.
Although both camps traded barbs throughout the years, there seems to be mutual respect remaining between the two all-time greats.
Nadal, 29, is currently competing at Indian Wells Open, where he's scheduled to face Kei Nishikori of Japan in the quarterfinal. It hasn't been a good year for the Spaniard after suffering a series of setbacks, but things are looking up for him following a gutsy three-set win over rising star Alexander Zverev last Wednesday.