At Montreal, Nadal went out in his first match and Federer in his second. Can anyone even remember that happening before?
I think that at the first Masters event of the North America tour most of us expected repeat semifinals featuring the top four of Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Murray.
But just a few days in, and three of the four have been sent packing. Only Nole is still standing.
So with Federer yet to win a Major or Masters in 2011, and Djokovic almost unbeatable, can we pronounce the Nadal and Federer era definitively dead?
Well, in the sense of two players totally dominating a sport, as Roger and Rafa did from 2006-2010, probably, yes, that history making epoch has ended.
It’s been a great run, and in the future we will probably look back and be amazed how long it lasted rather than at how it inevitably faded to an end. We’ll treasure forever the great memories including the incredible Wimbledon, French and Australian Open finals and unique friendship in rivalry .
But in another sense, we can hope that the era still has some legs.
Federer has another Major or two in him, and although we will see more downs than we have been spoiled to experience in the past, there will still be the ups – to savour not just for rarity, but especially for the grit and skill that will be needed to beat younger upstarts.
And Nadal is far from a done force. Provided he can manage his calendar to limit the pounding on his body, we can expect to see a more dosified and focussed Rafa sharpening his game to face the new challenge that is Novak Djokovic. I think we can hope for a minimum of 4 or 5 more good years, highlighted by many great matches with the Serb, as well as a few scorchers still with Roger, Andy and some yet-to-be-discovered young talents.
So for now, I’m putting this Montreal disappointment behind me, and looking forward to see our champs rested and back in the game come Cincinnati and Flushing Meadows.
The draw for the US Open has been made and is now available in full on the the US Open website.
I would say that Rafael Nadal definitely has an easier earlier run than Roger Federer.
Rafa starts in the first four rounds against players he has a good success rate against, though Ljubicic did beat him on the hard courts of Indian Wells earlier this year.
Then he has tougher challenges against Verdasco and Murray before a possible final against Federer. Of course beating Murray and Federer is a massive call, but then this IS the US Open .
Roger Federer on the other hand gets some hard opposition from the third round when he will have to battle it out with two players who beat him in their latest encounters (Hewitt and Soderling) as well as an easier Melzer between, before a semi with Djokovic and hopefully a finals date with Rafa.
Well that is the theory, let the mouthwatering reality ensue!
Potential opponents for our champions are as follows (if all goes according to seed):
1. Rafael Nadal, Spain
2. Roger Federer, Switzerland
3. Novak Djokovic, Serbia
4. Andy Murray, Great Britain
5. Robin Soderling, Sweden
6. Nikolay Davydenko, Russia
7. Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic
8. Fernando Verdasco, Spain
9. Andy Roddick, United States
10. David Ferrer, Spain
11. Marin Cilic, Croatia
12. Mikhail Youzhny, Russia
13. Jurgen Melzer, Austria
14. Nicolas Almagro, Spain
15. Ivan Ljubicic, Croatia
16. Marcos Baghdatis, Cyprus
17. Gael Monfils, France
18. John Isner, United States
19. Mardy Fish, United States
20. Sam Querrey, United States
21. Albert Montanes, Spain
22. Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spain
23. Feliciano Lopez, Spain
24. Ernests Gulbis, Latvia
25. Stanislas Wawrinka, Switzerland
26. Thomaz Bellucci, Brazil
27. Fernando Gonzalez, Chile
28. Radek Stepanek, Czech Republic
29. Philipp Kohlschreiber, Germany
30. Juan Monaco, Argentina
31. David Nalbandian, Argentina
32. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia
Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will play the final of the Madrid Masters Series today.
The head-to-head results between the two show a 9-1 career advantage for Nadal over Federer on clay, with the one result in Fed’s favour being in Hamburg 2007.
My pick for today is for a humdinger match, with Federer taking advantage of Nadal’s fatigue, but with the Mallorcan just two strong mentally and physically for the former number one. Rafa in three.
Following are the best live TV links – will be updated leading in to start time so return and refresh, or leave a comment if you have a problem or suggestion.
Madrid 2009 – Live TV Streams (Free)
Rafael Nadal vs Roger Federer – UPDATE: Game over, Federer won 6-4, 6-4
Option 1: http://zulu.mk/kanal5-plus - Macedonian(?) – Copy and paste this address into your browser (it does not work as a link) -
Option 2: Madrid Live TV – Nadal vs Federer – Spanish
Option 3: Madrid Live TV – Nadal vs Federer – English – Betfair – free registration required, but excellent picture and sound. Small viewing screen only. This is the one I’ll be using.
Option 4: Madrid Live TV – Nadalvs Federer – Good link, English – little tricky to start, so do as follows. Open in Internet Explorer. You will get a page in Chinese – wait – could take up to a minute, and when asked, agree to installing Add on from “Nanjing Naga Software”
If none of these links are currently working, or for more information, try referring to this post on how to watch live tennis over the internet, or leave a Comment.
The following are the events both are expected to play in. As top seeds, they’ll only meet if they manage to dismiss the pretenders and reach the finals, but who would bet against them?!
March 12th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells, CA, U.S.A.
BNP Paribas Open, ATP World Tour Masters 1000, Outdoor, Hard
March 25th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami, FL, U.S.A.
Sony Ericsson Open, ATP World Tour Masters 1000, Outdoor, Hard
April 27th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome, Italy
Internazionali BNL d’Italia, ATP World Tour Masters 1000, Outdoor, Clay
10th May ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid, Spain
Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, ATP World Tour Masters 1000, Outdoor, Clay
25th May Roland Garros, France
Roland Garros, Grand Slam, Outdoor, Clay
Eurosport-Yahoo! ran an online survey and of the 23,000 readers who voted, a massive 82 percent thing Federer will win at least two more Grand Slam titles, and therefore go past Pete Sampras’s record of 14.
42 percent were even more optimistic, believing that he would win at least four more titles!
See the full story here: Your view: Federer still has the magic
What about you, Nadal versus Federer fans? Do you think these results are a fair reflection of his possibilities, or a biased hopes of some wishful devotees? And if he were to reach this record, could Nadal maintain his current form (3 of the last 4 slams) and in a few years be topping this incredible feat himself?
One thing is for sure – we are all in for one hell of a ride over the coming months and years as we experience the joys of finding out!
An interesting comment today from the goalkeeper of the Real Madrid football team, Iker Casillas. When he was asked about whether Real Madrid would be able to catch up on the 10 point lead currently held by FC Barcelona in the Spanish football league, he said, “We are good but our problem is that we have a Barcelona in front of us who is very good. It is a situation similar to what Nadal had to live with for years with Federer”.
Well maybe it is no accident that Iker is best friends with Rafa, who in turn is a great fan of Real Madrid! It seems that Real Madrid are looking for inspiration wherever they can find it, and what better example could there be than Nadal? Rafa more than anyone knows how to battle it out day after day to finally overcome a s seemingly invincible opponent.
Maybe Real Madrid should hire Rafa as a part time sports psychologist?
Melbourne Time
At Montreal, Nadal went out in his first match and Federer in his second. Can anyone even remember that happening before?
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An interesting comment today from the goalkeeper of the Real Madrid football team, Iker Casillas. When he was asked about whether Real Madrid would be able to catch up on the 10 point lead currently held by FC Barcelona in the Spanish football league, he said, “We are good but our problem is that we have a Barcelona in front of us who is very good. It is a situation similar to what Nadal had to live with for years with Federer”.
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