“Rafa didn’t believe it” | Relief

At the end of 2005 Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal They have already taken the first two positions in the ATP rankings.a place they occupied for several seasons in a row. The Swiss, who was 24 at the time, already had six Grand Slam titles in his cabinet, half of them on the grass at Wimbledon. Nadal, whose emergence rocked the circuit that year, capped his first great year among the elite with victory at Roland Garros.

It was then, on one of the cold days at the end of the year, that a giant commercial plane began descending into the Miami airport. Sitting by the window Argentinian Pablo del Campo looked at the baseball stadium, so characteristic and colorful.with open parking, empty stands and an orange quarter circle on pristine green grass.

Suddenly everything clicked in Del Campo’s head. Click like a switch. “At my agency We were challenged to come up with ideas that were superior to any advertising.“, the Argentinean, publicist and ideologist of one of the most extravagant proposals in the history of tennis assures this publication. “It was at that moment, seeing this baseball court, that I first thought about ‘Battle of the surfaces‘”.

A year and a half later, on May 2, 2007, the newly opened Palma Arena in Mallorca – today called the Balearic Velodrome, then hungry for a high-profile event – The most bizarre match ever played by two of the best tennis players on the planet took place in front of just over 8,000 spectators.. On one side of the net is half a clay court. On the other, half of the grass path.

However, it all started many months ago. “We went to the US Open to meet Mark Miles, CEO ATPand he let us know that he was very interested in the idea because he thought that from a marketing point of view, both Rafa and Roger were very strong players,” Del Campo recalls.

“The first step was meeting Rafa through Javier Frana (former Argentine tennis player), who was a friend of Carlos Costa (Nadal’s agent), continues the Argentine. “We met him in Paris and We present the first sketches of the court. When Rafa saw them, he couldn’t believe it.. He said, is this real? This is true?”.

The Manacori’s mistrust stunned Del Campo’s team from the first moment. “It just showed his excitement about the idea,” he explains excitedly. “We must remember that At that time, Rafa had never beaten Roger on grass.and when he saw the track, he felt really motivated.”

It was then, with Nadal’s green light, that the Argentine began working on the second half of the match: Roger Federer. “It was difficult, and tennis schedules are quite difficult,” Del Campo admits on the other end of the phone. “We agreed to meet him in Switzerland, but we had to change the meeting, and it ended up in Shanghai.. Luckily Roger was interested in the idea.”

It also helped that both tennis players had the same representation company and sports brand. “IMG (International Management Group) was fundamental but also Nike“, explains Del Campo. – Let us remember that since these were two different surfaces, each changed shoes with each change of side. For such things and for the fact that they are celebrated in Mallorca, the land of Rafa, the cache was not an ordinary cache with exhibits“.

The match was won by Nadal (7-5, 4-6, 7-6), although this was the smallest. “I wrote down the headline of a London newspaper, I don’t remember whether it was Guardian or IndependentWhat entitled “The Game PlayStation Didn’t Think About”. As an advertising creative, this is the best compliment they could give me,” says the Argentine. “Even Novak Djokovic called it the most beautiful photograph in the history of tennis.”

However, the idea was to extend the event beyond 2007.”I wanted to make it an annual event so that every year the champions of Wimbledon and Roland Garros would face each other.but it was something very difficult,” says Del Campo, knowing that the experience changed his life. “Years later, we even had the opportunity to negotiate with the WTA to organize similar match between Garbine Muguruza and Serena Williamsbut ultimately it could not prosper.”