Tennis Special Feature: Is there a rival to contest Rafael Nadal-Roger Federer rivalry?
With the New Year now only hours away, Tennis fans everywhere are asking the same questions: Will 2011 be yet another year in which Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer fight it out against each other? Or will their reign finally end, with a new contender waiting
in the wings to come between the two top players?
In the New Year, the Australian Open will kick off in mid-January. The event begins in eighteen days, with a draw of 126 players who all have the same goal in mind: to topple the legacy set by Rafa and the Swiss maestro.
While Nadal sets foot in 2011 to win the Australian Open and thus become the first player in more than four decades to hold all four Majors titles at the same time, Roger Federer will be making his way to Melbourne with high hopes of defending his title.
In the event that Nadal fails, he will not achieve the feat last accomplished by Rod Laver in 1969. If Federer fails, he will no longer be the reigning champion at any of the Grand Slams (for the first time in seven years).
Looking back at the 2010 year, the shift in situations seems almost impossible. The same time last year, many pundits had already predicted Nadal’s downfall after his 2009 season, during which he had suffered from injuries which kept him from performing
well. He also dropped out in the middle of his 2010 Australian Open quarterfinal with British Number 1 Andy Murray, citing a wrenched knee. As Nadal headed out of the event, Federer stormed through the men’s game to once again become the Aussie champion, making
it his 16th Grand Slam title.
However, same as every other sport, tennis is also rarely conducive to monopolies. Thankfully for the Association of Tennis Professionals, Nadal was nowhere near done with his career. Despite his loss at the first Grand Slam of the year, Rafa came raging
back to win big at the next three Grand Slams; he took away trophies at the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open (a front which had, in previous years, been his Waterloo).
But, throughout the year, the world was deprived of a Grand Slam title match between the two players. Now, fans are sitting up once again hoping for the ultimate rivalry to be reignited at one of the Majors. The two players have maintained a stranglehold
on the titles since the Wimbledon Championships in 2004. Since that year, the two Europeans have taken away 23 out of 26 Grand Slam titles. After Federer’s win at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, the Australian Open should be the event of the year 2011.
Perhaps the American Number 1 Andy Roddick put it best when he said last month, “To put it into context what Roger and Rafa have achieved for the past five years I would hope that people appreciate it because I guarantee people will be writing in 15 years
time that these were the good old days.”
However, other players such as Novak Djokovic or Robin Soderling (who have been on tour for several years now) surely feel that it is time for a new champion on board – although Rafa and the Maestro would disagree.
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