How will Rafael Nadal fare in U.S. Open 2010?
With the number of earlier French Open wins embossed on Spain’s Rafael Nadal’s customized tennis shoes, he doesn’t leave room for doubting his abilities on clay. However, Nadal is definitely not considered a favorite as far as the U.S. Open is concerned. Rafael Nadal, commonly known as ‘Rafa’ has won eight grand slam singles titles out of which 5 were collected at the Roland Garros, along with a record breaking 18 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments. Nadal was also on Spain’s Davis Cup team that won in the years 2004, 2008 and 2009. It was a matter of prestige for the Spaniard to bag a gold medal in the 2008 Olympics held in Beijing. Nadal beat Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 in straight sets to win the Men’s Singles final.
Spain’s ‘Speedy Gonzales’ is known to swiftly cover the court, usually behind the baseline but as well as that works for Nadal on clay, his statistics on hard surfaces sadly appear differently. Having made it to the 2008 and 2009 U.S. Open semi-finals, the player unfortunately lost 6-2, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 to Britain’s Andy Murray and further went on to face defeat at the hands of Juan Martin Del Potro from Argentina. Nadal lost 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 in three consecutive sets to the Argentine in the 2009 U.S. Open. Nadal has yet to add a U.S. Open Men’s singles title to his tally. Back in 2004, Nadal teamed up with fellow country man Tommy Robredo Garcés to go through to the 2004 U.S. Open Men’s Doubles semifinal but ended up losing 6-3, 6-3 to India’s Leander Adrian Paes and Czech Republic’s David Rikl.
As disappointing as Nadal’s performances have been on hard surfaces, one cannot help but notice his yearly progress in the U.S. Open. At the young age of 15 with a ranking of 762 in the world, Nadal played his first Association of Tennis Professionals final which he went on to win against Paraguay’s Ramon Delgado. Rafa made his U.S. Open Men’s singles debut in 2003 but only managed to make it to the second round after having lost to Younes El Aynaoui. The Moroccan beat him in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 6-3, and 7-6. Nadal’s first performance at the 2003 U.S. Open Men’s singles was definitely commendable however it was not enough. The Spaniard returned for the 2004 U.S. Open Men’s singles but to the dismay of his fans, he was conquered 6-0, 6-3 and 6-4 by America’s Andy Roddick. Nadal progressed to the third round in the 2005 U.S. Open Men’s singles; however, the struggle just was not enough. The sportsman was bashed 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 and 6-1 again by American player James Blake. In 2006, Nadal made it to the quarterfinals in the U.S. Open Men’s singles. In spite of his statistics clearly improving, Nadal lost 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 and 6-1 to Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny. Rafa faced Spain’s David Ferrer only to lose 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, and 6-2 and was not able to get his breakthrough even though he won the first set.
Switzerland’s Roger Federer, namely Nadal’s archenemy and rival has 5 U.S. Open Men’s singles titles to his name. Federer won 5 consecutive U.S. Open Men’s singles finals in the year 2004 through to 2008. But he was surprisingly beaten in the 2009 U.S. Open Men’s singles final by Argentinean Juan Martin Del Potro. Clearly, Federer knows his way around a hard surfaced court. However, current world no. 1 Rafael Nadal has won five of the seven times that the Swiss and the Spaniard have faced each other. Nadal has defeated Federer on a hard surface at the 2009 Australian Open Men’s singles final. Nadal got rid of Spain’s Fernando Verdasco in the semifinal by beating him 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-7 and 6-4 in three sets to two. Furthermore, Nadal went on to bag the 2009 Australian Open Men’s final against Federer 7-5, 6-3, 7-6, 3-6 and 6-2.
Additionally, Nadal has already won 2 grand slams this year, namely the French Open and Wimbledon. This is Rafa’s second win at Wimbledon in the last two years. Quite clearly, the player is advancing on grass courts as well. The confident 24-year-old, who was content even when ranked no. 2 in the world, in his own words is known to pose a threat to potential 2010 U.S. Open Men’s singles final winner Roger Federer. Nadal has his ways of surprising his fans and usually brings everyone to the edge of their seats if he forms part of a grand slam final. As always, mostly everyone would want to witness a Nadal-Federer final to get their adrenaline pumping. Despite underperforming on hard surfaces, the innumerable Nadal fans all over the world will expect to see him doing well at the U.S. Open this year and will hopefully get to see Federer’s emotions taking a toll on him if conquered by Nadal.
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