The ‘genius’ behind ‘one of best images’ in tennis See more👇👇

In 2007 two tennis players could both claim to be the best – but on different surfaces. How could the Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal debate be settled?

One man had an eye-catching answer, and it was so memorable that Federer mentioned it in his heartfelt message, external to a retiring Nadal a few weeks ago.

Reminiscing about the many memories they shared over two decades, Federer pointed to “that match on half-grass, half-clay”.

At the time, Spain’s Nadal had been undefeated on a clay court for two years and Swiss Federer had not lost on grass for almost five years.

This was long before Nadal had racked up 22 Grand Slam titles and Federer 20 – and well before Novak Djokovic had overtaken both with his 24, or even won his first. But Nadal and Federer were nevertheless well into a rivalry that would become one of the greatest in sport.

They were dominant on their respective surfaces – so they needed a special court that could offer both conditions.

Enter Pablo del Campo, an Argentine creative and tennis fan. Inspired by the mixed surfaces of a baseball stadium in Miami that he flew over as a child, Del Campo came up with the idea of a half-grass, half-clay court.

“When the outfield meets the infield, the grass meets the dirt… seeing that from above, I saw a hybrid tennis court,” said Del Campo, who had previously tried unsuccessfully to arrange a mixed-surface match between Pete Sampras and Gustavo Kuerten, the leading grass and clay players before the Federer-Nadal era.

Del Campo first approached Nadal and Federer’s teams in 2005 with the idea and both eventually agreed to an exhibition match on the mixed surfaces, with the Swiss saying it would be “fun” and “exciting”.

“I think that the idea was irresistible for both Federer and Nadal,” Del Campo told the BBC’s Sporting Witness podcast.

Construction of the court took 19 days, costing $1.63m (£1.28m), and organisers had to tackle a worm infestation, but finally the court – described as “one of the best images that I’ve ever seen in tennis” by Djokovic – was ready.