Federer vs. Nadal…Again
It’s that time again. Time for Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to face off in a Grand Slam final. But this match isn’t taking place on the clay of Roland Garros, it’s on the famous Wimbledon Centre Court. That means grass, the surface officially owned by Roger Federer. Nowadays, a player is lucky to take a set off of him on grass (it’s only happened once so far). I was looking forward to a Roddick-Federer semifinal match, but Andy Roddick likes to blow 2-set leads, apparently. Federer made quick work of Gasquet, the player who defeated Roddick.
Nadal’s path to the final hasn’t been as effortless, but his semifinal match ended after only 2 and a half sets due to injury. He should be in good condition for the final – and he’s going to need it. Federbot is going to be out for blood tomorrow. Because of Nadal, he still doesn’t own a French Open. Nadal is also the only man to have a winning record against him. Granted, most of those victories came on clay courts, but even on hard courts, it’s an even 2-2.
But like I said already, this is taking place on grass. They’ve only played one match on grass against each other before, and that was last year’s Wimbledon final. Nadal managed to win a set, but ultimately was destroyed by the Swiss machine. Nadal has only gotten better with his grass game, though, considering he still has only played 25 career matches on grass. And the Wimbledon grass has gotten slower as the years have gone on, an advantage to a quick mover like Nadal.
Now, there’s no way I’m going to bet against Federer tomorrow; it was pretty much a foregone conclusion before the tournament even started that he would win his 5th straight Wimbledon title, consequently tying Bjorn Borg’s record. Yet I can’t help imagine how awesome it would be if he lost tomorrow though.
…I’m still bitter at the fact that he ended Pete Sampras’s run for a 5th straight Wimbledon. GO NADAL!
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