During the heyday of their dominance, a Grand Slam semifinal between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer would have been thought of as some sort of punishment inflicted by an unfair draw.
But it’s 2019 now, and any reinstallment of arguably the greatest rivalry in tennis history has to be treated as bonus. No matter that it will take place in the semifinals instead of a final. Given the current state of things in the men’s game, a Fedal semifinal feels just about right.
That will be the case when the two veterans square off for the 39th time in their careers at the French Open on Friday. Nadal leads the head-to-head series 23-15, including 13-2 on clay and 5-0 at Roland Garros. But it’s not all bad news for Federer; not even close. The 37-year-old has won five in a row at the Spaniard’s expense dating back to 2015, including in the 2017 Australian Open title match to go along with a trio of victories at Masters 1000s and one in Basel.
Virtual home-court advantage goes to Nadal this time around, even though the crowd will surely throw its support behind Federer. The 11-time French Open champion is an absolutely outrageous 91-2 lifetime at this tournament, losing only to Robin Soderling (2009) and Novak Djokovic (2015) before withdrawing prior to the third round in 2016. He has been up to his usual tricks this fortnight with routine wins over Yannick Hanfmann, Yannick Maden, David Goffin (in four sets), Juan Ignacio Londero, and Kei Nishikori.
Federer has also surrendered only a single set. The third-ranked Swiss’ disposed of Lorenzo Sonego, Oscar Otte, Casper Ruud, and Leonardo Mayer in swift fashion before beating Stan Wawrinka 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 on Tuesday. He is now 9-1 on clay this spring, a record that also includes mostly successful returns to Madrid and Rome.
“I (have already) exceeded my expectations here,” Federer said following his win over Wawrinka. “You know, after missing the French for so many years it’s nice to be back in the semis. So that’s a great feeling…. Now I have the match with Rafa, and I’m clearly excited. I hope I can recover well in the next couple days, which I’m sure I will, and I’ll give it my best shot on Friday.”
“I really expect that he (is) gonna play aggressive, changing rhythms, going to the net,” Nadal noted. “That’s my feeling, that he (is) gonna try to play that way, because he’s playing well and he has the tennis to make that happen. I have to be solid; I have to hit the ball enough strong to [not] allow him to do the things from good positions. I need to let him play from difficult positions, so from there he (is) gonna have less chances to go to the net or to play his aggressive game.”
The 17-time major winner has almost always been able to execute that plan on clay, pinning Federer on the baseline and exploiting his one-handed backhand with heavy topspin forehands. It is difficult to see anything different transpiring on Friday, as even though Federer’s return to clay has been impressive it still doesn’t include any wins over anyone in the top 14.
This will not be a complete rout; the world No. 3 is too good for that. But on this surface it likely won’t go more than three sets.
Pick: Nadal in 3
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But atrocious it was as if the player for whom the ball stayed low the least won the game
Everyone in the crowd is wearing winter jackets and look like theyre freezing.
We were!!! After a point my teeth were chattering!! lol!!
Yess! Break back!☺
Now freaking hold serve!
Rafa is federeresque ln bps today
Yes it is doing my head in!
He should be further ahead!
Huge break for Nadal. Some poor decision making, imo, from Fed. A lot of head-scratching approaches on 2nd serves. But Rafa’s shot to break, off a Fed overhead, was incredible.
Complete change up by fed!
Yeah feel the second set is going Feds way. Too unpredictable the conditions. Making the match more equal
Some back hand pass to avoid breakpoint there but roger makes some awesome gets of his own to win the next
Some incredible shots by rafa!
And the forehand flick there to avoid bp again
Pulled that out of his bum
Feel that rafa isn’t being aggressive enough in the return game s
Federer is crushing it
which match are you watching????
Hahahahahaha!!!!
Yess! Rafa heard me!☺
Rafa has to serve into the wind again
Boring!
Omgggggg if you have to explain to a newbie why rrafa is king of clay, that game should be shown
Absolutely terrible game from Fed from 40-0 to get broken. Some great shots by Rafa, but bad decision making and really reminiscent of old Fed on this surface. He’s hitting the ball as hard as he can, but not taking enough care with placement. This was really a set he should have won.
Second set rafa!
Rafa has looked like an absolute superstar at times!☺
Some shots have just been genius!☺
Amy you are my lucky mascot..
Why do we feel set is going feds way when it’s on serve 3-4.. guess it’s never over until over.. but atleast now Rafa relaxes and cleans it up.
Can’t you watch PK?
Oh no. My BP shoots the roof. And someone said 3-0 first set and I got worried and looked up scores and next thing he gets broken back. happy for Rafa and am enjoying your updates.
Yes, Rafa wins the second set! So happy for him, no hiccups when serving for the set. Vamos! One more set to go!
And set 2 in the bag. Rafa has a neat two set streak going now against the fed