Wertheim's take on working with Nadal and Federer

INDIAN WELLS, Calif.—As expected, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were the highlight attractions when they played their first matches on Sunday, and Jon Wertheim has an inside take of what it's like working with the two champions.

Wertheim is the author of Strokes of Genius, a book centered on Nadal and Federer's 2008 Wimbledon final that was released in 2009. The book was turned into a documentary last year, airing on Tennis Channel and iTunes.

"They were both so cooperative with the book and the documentary," Wertheim said. "They were great in terms of saying, we're not going to stop you, ask me what you want to ask. This isn't a project that they are part of necessarily, so it's not like one of these authorized biographies. But they were both so generous with their time."

While plenty of reporters and broadcasters spend time interviewing the likes of Federer and Nadal, Wertheim may have one of the stronger connections thanks to his intensive work covering them, and telling the story of that final, arguably the greatest match ever played.

"I've covered these guys since they both came on tour, so you just can't not run into them from time to time," Wertheim said. "You think about the longevity of them and one of the things is we have a relationship lasting 15, 20 years; over the course of that time you build a rapport."

On Sunday, Tennis Channel had Federer and Nadal in the studio to chat after their respective wins, and Wertheim was on set for the Federer interview. As you'd imagine, anytime you're working with players of this magnitude, there's an entourage of friends, agents, family and even security personnel, all piled into the studio. The buzz is electric in the moments leading up to their arrival, as the energy builds and the crowd grows in the grass area behind the set windows.

"Anytime we get Roger and Rafa on set is special," Wertheim said. It was extra special on Sunday with Federer gushing over Pete Sampras watching his match and revealing he chatted about the future of the ATP tour with Nadal over coffee.

Federer moved past Peter Gojowczyk, and takes on Stan Wawrinka next, while Rafael Nadal dismissed Jared Donaldson and will play Diego Schwartzman in Round 3.