Nadal wants to double up with Federer in Madrid

Sep 2, 2006, 18:13 GMT

New York - Rafael Nadal is dreaming of teaming with Roger Federer in doubles at the Madrid Masters next month.

While Spain's two-time French Open champion is pondering how best to broach the subject with his main rival in the game, Nadal thinks that the world-beating Swiss might just consider the possibility.

In singles, the pair have dominated tennis for the past two seasons, contesting five finals in 2006 with Federer winning the last one at Wimbledon.

'It would be great to play with Roger,' said Nadal, who is on good terms with the Swiss while still considering Federer the best player on the planet.

'I'm going to ask him if we can play in Madrid,' Nadal said of the event starting October 16 where he is defending the singles crown.

'It would be a great attraction, it would be fine by us,' said Madrid organizer Gerard Tsobanian, whose event has also broken marketing and publicity ground with models performing ballgirl duties at the past two editions.

Pairings of the number 1 and number 2 players is unknown in tennis, where most rivalries feed on dislike or at least aversion between competitors.

The likes of Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe or Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, while cordial, never stretched to teaming up outside of possibly Davis Cup.

But Federer and Nadal appear to be different, with the 20-year-old Spaniard taking every opportunity to remind that he's second in the world behind the Swiss - even through he owns him 6-2 in their career series.

At Basle last year after Nadal had pulled out injured following his Madrid title, hometown boy Federer visited the Spaniard's hotel room to express his regrets. Federer also missed the tournament with an ankle injury.

The only off-court spat between Federer and Nadal camps came in the May Rome final, when Federer hinted that Nadal's uncle and coach Toni was openly coaching from the stands. 'That's over,' said Nadal of the disagreement. 'It's history.'