All eyes on Federer and Nadal before Wimbledon
The 2010 Wimbledon Championship gets underway on Monday, and will showcase the best players in the world vying on the fast outdoor courts to try and take home the title. This is the 124th year of the English tournament.
On the men’s side, Roger Federer will come into the tournament as the defending champion and favourite. Federer’s dominance of this event has been remarkable over the past seven years, winning six titles in that span. The only time he fell short was in 2008 when he lost to Rafael Nadal, the current no.1 ranked player in the world, in the finals of the tournament.
While many of the best players in the world will be in this tournament, it would be something of a surprise if neither Nadal nor Federer won the event. Nobody else has won the tournament since 2002.
Recent form
Federer recently lost to Robin Soderling, who will also be competing at Wimbledon in what was a considerable upset, given that Federer had beat Soderling 12 times in a row. Still, Federer is famed for his consistency, having appeared in the semi-finals of 23 straight Grand Slam events before getting beaten by Soderling.
A win for Federer would be enough to tie one of Pete Sampras’ last remaining significant records of seven Wimbledon titles. Most of Sampras’ records have already been captured by Federer, widely considered the greatest tennis player ever. Additionally, the no.1 ranking Federer could earn from such a victory would allow him to break another one of Sampras’ records, of most weeks spent as the highest ranked tennis player in the world. Sampras’ record stands at 286, but Federer is just one week shy.
Nadal has looked terrific as of late though, and will look to repeat his 2008 result of beating Federer in what is sometimes considered the greatest men’s tennis match of all time. Nadal has been playing very well lately, and beat Robin Soderling to win the French Open recently. He also beat Roger Federer last time they played, winning in two closely contested sets at the Madrid Masters to win that event.
Nadal has been prepping for Wimbledon’s grass courts, entering the AEGON championships, though in a surprise upset he failed to make the tournament finals. Regardless, Nadal maintained his no.1 ranking and should be playing Federer. He’ll come into the event having won two thirds of their encounters, with a record of 14-7. At Wimbledon though its Federer who’s come out on top twice, while Nadal only beat him once, in 2008.
Other contenders
While it will be Federer and Nadal who dominate the attention of fans and media alike, there are other strong contenders in the field this year. Federer may well have to deal with Robin Soderling again to make the finals, and the Swede could very well pull off a repeat of his French Open upset.
Andy Roddick, who lost a very close match in the 2009 Wimbledon final to Federer, has a reasonable chance of victory and is likely the man with the best chance of stopping Federer or Nadal from winning.
Andy Murray’s unusual style may also pose a challenge to Nadal making the finals. Murray plays quite well on the grass courts and could potentially stop Nadal’s bid to recapture his 2008 glory.
But fans will be rooting for a renewal of the classic Federer-Nadal rivalry. There are few times in sports when fans will relish the opportunity of watching the same thing over and over again, but for Wimbledon fans the prospect of a fourth final match between the two best players in the world will be something to cheer for.
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