Federer: Me and Rafa are the Messi & Ronaldo of tennis

ROGER FEDERER reckons his rivalry with Rafa Nadal makes them the Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi of tennis.

But the No.1 seed (left) hopes he stays in Wimbledon longer than the football superstars remained at the World Cup. Ten years after Nadal won their epic five-set final, the Swiss and the Spaniard (right) are still the two top players.

Federer, who turns 37 next month, said: “I see the comparison – they have a long-standing rivalry. I have the same with Rafa. They’re very different from one another. I guess there’s some similarities there as well.

“Rafa and myself, we’re still very different on many levels. I think it’s pretty much the same for them.

“I’ve never met them, so I can’t really talk about how different or similar they are to our rivalry. Obviously in football, it’s different because you’re only as good as your team.

“The pitch is huge, with 11 of them running around. With us, we’re a little more in control. I hope I can control it a bit better than they could. We’ll see how it goes.”