After a whole host of memorable matches, two Spaniards have emerged from the chaos to find themselves in Sunday’s Roland Garros title match. Rafael Nadal may have taken a more circuitous route than David Ferrer, but they are now on level terms at the last stage of the tournament. Nadal is one win away from his 12th major title, Ferrer one win away from his first.
Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer will be squaring off for the 24th time in their careers on Sunday, and this one will come on a stage of unprecedented grandeur. They have faced each other seven times in finals (two Masters events, five 500-pointers) and on four previous occasions at Grand Slams (never later than the semis). The winner of what is now their biggest-ever showdown will be crowned French Open champion.
Nadal is dominating the head-to-head series 19-3, including 16-1 on clay. Ferrer won their first meeting on dirt in 2004 prior to Nadal’s current streak of 16 in a row on this surface. Overall, Nadal has won eight in a row at Ferrer’s expense (all on clay) dating back to the 2011 Monte-Carlo title match. They have already met three times this season and Ferrer forced a deciding third set in each of the last two after getting blown out 6-0, 6-2 in the Acapulco final.
This fortnight, however, Ferrer has been the one handing out beatdowns left and right. In fact, the fifth-ranked Spaniard still has not dropped a single set in the entire tournament. His scalps include Marinko Matosevic, Albert Montanes, Feliciano Lopez, Kevin Anderson, Tommy Robredo, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Ferrer is 37-9 for the year, which includes a pair of 250-point titles and a runner-up finish in Miami.
For better and worse, Nadal has stolen far more headlines in his trek through the draw. The fourth-ranked Spaniard lost sets to both Daniel Brands and Martin Klizan before picking up the pace in routs of Fabio Fognini, Kei Nishikori, and Stanislas Wawrinka. That set the stage for a blockbuster showdown on Friday against Novak Djokovic, which Nadal survived 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-7(3), 9-7.
“It was a really emotional match,” the No. 3 seed commented. “Both of us played for a lot of moments at a very high level. These kind of matches make the sport big. You don’t have the chance to play these kind of matches every day. So when these kind of matches happen you suffer, but I really enjoy these moments.”
With what transpired on Friday, Nadal and Ferrer have something in common even though Nadal’s appearance in yet another major final was mostly expected while Ferrer’s was a slight surprise. Both are just happy to be in it.
“I’m very, very happy,” Ferrer assured. “This tournament is very special for me and to be the first final of Grand Slam in Roland Garros is amazing. Now I want to enjoy this moment, to rest (on Saturday), and to try my best in the final. I know he’s the favorite, but I am going to be focused every point. I am not thinking about Rafael, if he’s better than me or not. I will try to fight a lot and to play a very good match. After that, the match is going to depend on a lot of things.”
Almost none of those things bodes well for Ferrer’s chances. What the underdog does have going for him is his amazing current form plus potentially cool and rainy conditions that troubled Nadal during the first week of the event. Nadal’s four-hour and 37-minute struggle does not help the seven-time Roland Garros champion, but one day of rest and his proven ability to recover well should make that a non-issue. Whereas this is a completely new territory for Ferrer, Nadal is bidding for his 12th slam title in his 17th final. Throw the favorite’s 58-1 lifetime record in Paris and his 42-2 mark in 2013 into the equation and the odds are simply too stacked up against Ferrer.
Pick: Nadal in 3
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I know that Ferrer will fight hard, but it’s got to be Rafa in 3!