1. A Match Made In Heaven
Unlike Roger and Rafael, these two men have similar playing styles. Both good servers, both fantastic returners and baseline players, and though Andy may not appear so impressively flexible both mens movement is top notch. Basically, theres no obvious aspect of their game that is miles apart - as there was with the Federer-Nadal rivalry. So what does this mean? Well, firstly it produces amazing sights on the court. With such similar styles of play the two create fantastic rallies with both players attempting to dominate from the baseline. Their hitting and rapid movement allow rallies to regularly reach double figures; who can forget those 20 plus shot rallies in Andy's recent Wimbledon triumph. This is central to a famous rivalry. The closeness of the matches along with the average rally length within them create epics, even Murray's Wimbledon straight set victory took over 3 hours. All this means that when the two players meet in those all important finals, we're in for a treat. It isn't just the tension of the seemingly never ending rallies, or the unbelievable ability of both men to reach almost every shot. It's the real sense that the match could never end. This is the key to great rivalries; when the number one in the world regularly struggles to beat the number two. The current scope of competition at the top of men's tennis is a catalyst for such rivalries, and with Andy now challenging for the slam titles this will only increase.
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