The weak and the strong: Will Nadal make History in Madrid?
The last major tournament before the coveted French Open is the Madrid open held 2 weeks before the Grand slam. All the top players who are contenders for the French open, try their hand first at the Madrid open to practice on the quicker clay compared to that of Monte Carlo and Rome (the previous two major tournaments before the Madrid Open).
This year all the top players of the world are packing their bags to play at Madrid, except world number 2 ‘Novak Djokovic’. Djokovic has officially withdrawn from the tournament due to illness and allergies. Nevertheless looking at his recent performances on clay he was not be a force to reckon with anyway. What everyone would be looking at would be the performance of the Champion Roger Federer, and his immediate threat, the king of clay, Rafael Nadal. An ideal situation would be to see both of them in the final but there are a lot of challengers in between.
In Federer’s half of the draw the immediate challenge comes from the ex-world number one, Carlos Moya, who although is a wild card in the tournament, is a very experienced candidate. Than is the number 5 seed, Andy Rodick. Although Andy has hardly done well on clay in his career, but his experience and explosive serves cannot be counted out of contention. Andy Murrey is another one of those of players who can pose a threat with his consistency and fitness.
Apart from the higher ranked players the main threat actually comes from the clay court specialists. Earnest Gulbis and Albert Montanes have beaten the World number during the past one month while David Ferer reached the final of Rome open. Not just that, Gulbis reached the semi Final of Rome and even won a set against the king of clay. Montanes on the other hand defeated Federer in the semi final of the Estoril Open.
The other side of the draw which Rafael Nadal plans to conquer is comparatively less threatening for him, partly because of his recent form on clay. The immediate threat comes from the Frenchman Gael Monfils, who is also known as the slider, owing to his amazing stretches to reach the ball. Jo Wilfred Tsonga is another one of those players who have defeated Rafa comprehensively in recent times (Australian open 2 years back). But the player Nadal really have to look out for is the Swede Robin Soderling who ended Nadal’s fairy tale run at the French open last year.
The player Nadal is expected to meet in the semi final, if all goes according to the odds, is his fellow countryman Fernando Verdasco.
Verdasco has been in impeccable form all season. Although he lost against him in the Monte Carlo open final, he has disturbed his game from time to time.
All these world class players fighting to enter the French open on a winning not is a very interesting proposition, which is going to make Madrid open one of the best masters 1000 cup of the season.
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