Wimbledon 2010: Will Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer?
The gates of the All England Club in SW19 opened yesterday for a fortnight of swashbuckling tennis. It will be two weeks of lush green grass, pitched battles and of course strawberries and cream. Wimbledon remains the only grand slam of the season that transports all the players to the grassroots of tennis.
The tournament began in 1877, when the only surface available to tennis players was grass. Each decade of Wimbledon has produced a dominant force on grass, from Jimmy Connors, to John McEnroe, from Stefan Edberg to Boris Becker, from Goran Ivanisevic to Pete Sampras and now from Roger Federer to Rafael Nadal. Wimbledon has witnessed many hard fought wars over the years, McEnroe against Borg, Connors versus McEnroe, Edberg facing off against Becker, Ivanisevic versus Rafter and the 2008 epic between Federer and Nadal. But looking at the performance of Federer over the last few months and of course his opening encounter against Falla, does it seem that it will now be Rafael Nadal who will be the next torchbearer of Wimbledon? Will Federer given up his throne and be succeeded by the fiery Spaniard from Mallorca?
The master of clay, who was out of the tennis circuit nursing a knee injury, came back in full form better than before. The clay court season belonged to Nadal, who lifted the Madrid trophy and destroyed his opponents to win his fifth French Open title just a few weeks ago. Riding on an air of confidence, Nadal will be looking to rewrite history and recreate the magic that he did in 2008. In the process, Nadal has already dethroned Federer in the world rankings, stopping Federer from achieving yet another milestone in his career of holding the top spot for the highest amount of time. Nadal took his revenge as Federer had snatched Nadal’s number one spot while he was out with an injury.
Nadal’s body had caught up to him as the Spaniard had to alter his game, timing and style to prevent further wear and tear. His experiments have borne fruit, his new tactics have helped him regain his supremacy on clay and now he looks forward to doing the same on grass. The challenge for Nadal is to become as versatile as Federer was, to excel on all surfaces not just at clay. Furthermore, learning from his past mistakes, Nadal has to make sure that his physical strength remains intact so he too can hold on to the number one spot and edge closer to Pete Sampras’s record of two hundred and eighty six weeks at the top. The last time Nadal was ranked as the world number one, he held the position for forty six weeks. This time round it should be for the long run.
With Federer’s immortality coming into question now, critics are left wondering how much steam is still left in the twenty-nine-year-old. With Nadal only twenty four, it is very possible that he is the one who will take advantage of the fading kingdom of Roger Federer.
There is a saying that ‘it is lonely at the top’, it comes to fruition in the world of tennis. At that position, all eyes are on the player with expectations riding high. The smallest mistake is highlighted all over the media. A world number two player is considered a hero when he/she defeats the world number one, but when the top ranked player defends his title, he/she is merely known as a champion.
Currently, Nadal has the upper hand after beating Federer in six out of the last seven matches. Furthermore, Nadal also won their last meeting in a Grand Slam final in Australia in 2009. That year, the only Grand Slams won by Federer were not at the behest of Nadal.
Passing of the titles and changing of the guard seems inevitable in tennis and we have witnessed such events in the past when McEnroe surpassed Borg. With Nadal having many more years of tennis in front of him, we can already see a new champion in the making.
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