1. Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal
Although it’s a gentlemen’s game, having a dress code, handshakes and all the rest, tennis gave birth to one of the greatest rivalries in sports. Like a superhero clash, kids and adults alike used to wait with bated breath the next Roger Federer v Nadal Roger match. Truth be told, in the late years of their rivalry, Nadal would get the best of Roger only to prove that lefties stand a better chance against him. Currently, the Spaniard has eight victories lead over Roger with 24 wins to 16. Most of the time the two would meet in the finals of prestigious events such as the Grands Slam or ATP 1000 tourneys.
You can imagine how high the stakes and drama were. Rafa – The King of Clay – was so determined to defend his dominance on clay courts that he would stun Federer at Roland Garros finals time and time again. This inevitably shook the hopes of Roger Federer of conquering all four Grand Slams. Eventually, he won Roland Garros 2009 after Nadal suffered a Söderling defeat due to injury.
2. Christiano Ronaldo vs Messi
How many times did those two get in a head-to-head clash for the golden ball? The answer – eleven times they were, at the same time, among the three nominees for the most prestigious prize in the world of football. Six of those awards went Messi’s way. Generally speaking, the two were and still are in a league of their own, so does their rivalry. Playing in La Liga for good nine seasons certainly helped the competition between these great footballers reach new heights. There were so many editions of El Clasico in which the performance of Ronaldo and Messi was scrutinised with a view of determining who was the better player. Still, opinions couldn’t be more divisive!
Even nowadays, analysts believe that the two athletes are evenly matched, all things considered. Ronaldo is the better header and Messi, arguably, the better dribbler. One thing has to be taken into account though – Christiano Ronaldo’s age. Being at his mid-thirties and playing forward doesn’t make him the hottest thing on the football market. Market value-wise Lionel Messi is and always was the more expensive player. There you have it – one of the biggest rivalries in sports and it’s still alive and kicking.
3. Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier
Before professional wrestling and WWE, the boxing ring was the modern-day arena where disputes of sociological significance were settled. We find a prime example of that case in one of the greatest rivalries in sports history – the one of Muhammed Ali and Fraizer. Coming on the heels of the rare until then, act of mischief on behalf of Muhammed Ali, who refused to join the military, the first match between the two was held on March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden in New York. The event was so memorable, it went down in history as ‘The Fight’. Not just a crowd-pleaser, the fight was an all-out war. A neck-and-neck thriller, pitting two fighters of fundamentally different backgrounds and styles. After a nerve-shredding 15 rounds, Fraizer was proclaimed winner by a unanimous decision.
The long and short if it is, though beautiful to watch, Ali’s style didn’t hold the right answers against Fraizer’s devastating blows. He finished on his feet, but still, Fraizer won by a significant margin. Ali won the rematch in 1974 thought. It seemed as though, he took on board the lessons learned after the first match and managed to keep Fraizer’s dangerous left hook at bay. As all good things come in threes, there had to be a third match and a third match came to pass October 1975. One more time Ali showed he’s the better boxer. His endless barrage of punches eventually wore Fraizer down who ended up with both eyes swollen shut and unable to see straight. While the action is not as fast and furious in computer games, true pudits know of quite a few Esports gambling rivalries.
4. Uasin Bolt vs Tyson Gay
Competitive athletics is filled with big sports rivalries just as are football and tennis. One of the most interesting of them all is the Usain Bolt – Tyson Gay conflict. In their prime, they were, no doubt, two of the fastest (if not the fastest) men on Earth. The fierce competition between the two athletes is rightly numbered amongst the biggest rivalries in sports. We have to say, the majority of the time, Usain Bolt would win pretty convincingly, be it because of his superior height or sheer class.
The 100m final at the World Athletics Championships Berlin 2009 speaks volumes as to how fierce the battle between the two was. This is the year and event when Bolt smashed the world record in 100 meters and set a new one – 9.58 seconds, which remains unbeatable still to this day. Gay finally caught a break at the Diamond League 2010, when he won the 100 meters final beating his arch-rival. The Jamaican’s cocky manner of speaking did go too far on certain occasions, especially when the target was his colleague Tyson Gay. Bolt even went as far as to say Tyson Gay should have been kicked out of the sport for doping. It was all good at the end and nobody lost his licence to compete.
5. Ronnie O’Sullivan vs John Higgins
If you know a thing or two about pool games, you’d have heard these names. The two gentlemen are inarguably two of the brightest minds in world snooker. Seeing them duking it out at the snooker was always a privilege. They both have 28 professional seasons under their belt and a comparable number of century breaks. Not to mention that being so evenly-matched has made the matches between them a favourite fixture with the best sportsbooks in the UK. How could it be otherwise when Higgins and O’Sullivan have faced each other in major events a number of times. The record shows 17 finals, 11 semis, and 21 quarterfinals. O’Sullivan has won the majority of their heads-up clashes and boasts the bigger prize money total of £11 mil.
Most recently, the draw of the Champion of Champions (an invitational tournament) pitted them against each other in the quarter-finals. In the very first frame, Higgins set the tone of the match with a failed safety shot, leaving an easy red for O’Sullivan. Not that the Scot made very many mistakes that day, but it was enough to lose in the end. The match ended in O’Sullivan winning 6 to 3 frames. Just like the other best rivalries in sports, this one doesn’t lack world championship drama. In fact, their first, Crucible Theatre match dates back to 1996 – a Final won 13 to 12 by Ronnie O’Sullivan. Be that as it may, the Scot boasts a 3 to 2-win record over O’Sullivan in the world Championship.
The Greatest Rivalries in Sports History – Which One Is It?
You have to acknowledge that some people aren’t even a sportsperson or don’t merely get enough Televised sports exposure to be able to catch the latest of the sports world. For those reasons, we’ll leave the post an open-ended one and let you be the judge. A lot of great athletes were mentioned, each a champion in their own right, so it may not be even necessary to make a final verdict because it’s hard to remain unbiased. After all, sports is, among other things, a form of entertainment and not a place for judgment. Most people like it this way and we certainly do as well.
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