Not way back, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal confronted off on the prime of a snowy mountain. This wasn’t a far-flung tennis exhibition; as a substitute, the 2 titans met on a peak within the Dolomites mountain vary in Italy for a photoshoot for Louis Vuitton’s long-running Core Values marketing campaign. The {photograph}, taken by Annie Leibovitz and launched right this moment, finds the longtime rivals mountain climbing by means of the snowy terrain, LV packs on their shoulders.
So how do you get two GOATs to affix forces on a snowy mountaintop? Given their relationship, Nadal and Federer defined solely to GQ over e-mail, the duty was maybe simpler than it sounds. As Federer put it, the enchantment lay each within the concept and the companion. “It is an honor to observe within the sporting footsteps of the Louis Vuitton marketing campaign that beforehand included Messi and Ronaldo, and Pelé, Maradona and Zidane,” he wrote. “Rafa shares comparable values and mutual respect, and he’s a particular buddy and rival who has performed a key function in my improvement as knowledgeable athlete, competitor and particular person.”
Nadal expressed the same sentiment. “To be sincere, I believed from the start, what an ideal alternative and honor, not solely due to the model itself—one of the vital emblematic manufacturers in France and on the earth—but additionally on account of the truth that it was one thing along with Roger,” he wrote. “We’d at all times spoken within the current years to do issues and this was the most effective alternative at this very second.”
Courtesy of Louis Vuitton
Theirs is a singular rivalry: whereas they’re accountable for a number of of essentially the most iconic tennis matches of all time (significantly their 2008 Wimbledon closing), they’ve grown shut since first competing in 2003. “I’ve at all times mentioned that Roger has impressed tens of millions of individuals around the globe, me included. I consider that our rivalry has positively raised the bar in sports activities when it comes to wholesome rivalry and the way athletes can attempt their finest on the court docket, to the utmost, positively desirous to win by all means however with an enormous respect for the rival. The rivalry stayed at all times on court docket and we knew it had at all times to be like that,” Nadal mentioned.
Federer, in the meantime, defined that their relationship encompasses each on- and off-court actions. “On the court docket we’ve got challenged one another to evolve, enhance and attain heights we by no means would have managed with out the rivalry,” Federer mentioned. “Off the court docket our relationship has grown from fierce intense opponents to a lifelong friendship pushed by our real personalities and shared values.”
The marketing campaign’s mountaintop setting made me marvel: how do every of them take into consideration their very own summits? “Successful Wimbledon 8 instances positively stands proud,” Federer wrote, in among the many biggest flexes ever dedicated to e-mail. “But in addition the triumph on the Australian Open in 2017 over Rafa has particular which means. After a difficult 2016 season publish knee surgical procedure, the highway to restoration was lengthy. Many doubted, together with myself at instances, whether or not I may return to prime type, not to mention win one other Grand Slam title. Nevertheless, the celebrities aligned, and the willpower paid off with the help of the workforce to raise one other Grand Slam title Down Underneath and show that I may nonetheless contend on the very best ranges. And doing it in opposition to Rafa, my chief rival, made it additional particular.”
