Two of the greatest players to ever grace a tennis court were reunited on Wednesday as Roger Federer joined his old rival Rafael Nadal to help open a new tennis academy in Rafael's hometown of Manacor on the Spanish island of Majorca.

Rafa Nadal presents Roger Federer with a framed picture of their many duels down the years at the opening of his academy on Thursday.

The distinguished pair have 31 Grand Slams between them, 14 for Nadal and 17 for Federer, and after years of memorable battles they have a great understanding and appreciation for each others game and a mutual respect for what the other has achieved. They've met 34 times on court with Nadal well up in the head-to-head at 23-11, but they haven't played each other for almost a year. Nadal and Federer are both out of the top four in the world rankings for the first time in 13 years due to a lack of form and fitness respectively. The 30-year-old Nadal is now number six and the 35-year-old Federer number eight, and the two insist that they can still compete with the best in the world after coming back from injuries.

"At least I am enjoying what I'm doing, especially when I am healthy. When I am not healthy, for sure I don't enjoy it. I have fun playing tennis and I feel myself ready for fun again. I try to have the best preparation possible, even more than ever, to try and be 100 percent ready for the new season," Nadal said.

"I don't know how it's going to be when I come back, but you've done it a million times, and yet again I can be inspired by you. How easily you always came back (from injury), you made it look easy. I know it's not easy, but you made it look easy the way you always get back in the top ten, the top five, even world number one, so that's something I'm going to be thinking about when I come back to work in January," Federer said.