The French Open men’s singles final is a familiar site for the tennis Connoisseurs. Yes, like others I also thought that it won’t be a similar battle while keeping the incredible surge of Djokovic’s in mind.
It’s World No.1 Rafael Nadal vs. former World No.1 and current World No.3 Roger Federer, they will lock horns on the familiar territory, where Nadal has won on all 4 ocassions,the latest being the 2008 French Open finals.
This will be the 25th meeting between these two greats. The last time they took on each other in a Grand Slam title match was two years back at the Australian Open, where Nadal won his first ever hard court Grand Slam and became the first Spaniard to win the coveted trophy of Australian Open. Nadal leads their overall head-to-head series 16-8, including an all time record 8 Grand Slam finals, where Nadal once again prevailed by winning 6 of those 8 games.
In the semis Birthday boy Nadal stopped Britain’s Andy Murray beating him 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 to improve his record at Roland Garros to 44-1. Rafa saved as many as 15 break points.
But for Federer as expected Djokovic’s is not the one who gives up easily, Federer made 46 unforced errors in a 3 hour 40 minutes battle which he ultimately won 7-6,6-3,3-6,7-6.
Nadal reached his 6th French open final; he has already beaten Federer twice this season.
Nadal is the King of Clay where as Federer is the King of Grass. Their respective dominance on clay and grass was the impetus for the ‘Battle of Surfaces ‘an exhibition match on half clay, half grass court.
This is Federer’s 23rd Grand Slam final and a win for the 29 year Old Swiss will give him Grand Slam no.17, extending his pre-existing record of most ever in the open era. This man has achieved everything in Tennis; a win will put the most glorious of seals on a remarkable career of Swiss Master.
A win for the 25 year old Nadal, will earn him his 10th Grand Slam title and a match for Bjorn Bjorg’s record haul of 6 Roland Garros championships. The Spaniard will also retain his no.1 ranking which he might lose to Djokovic if he fails against Federer.
Nadal will start the proceeding as favorite nevertheless, the Swiss maestro appears to have excelled to new heights based on his current progress.Nadal’s key advantages over Federer are his court area coverage and his dominance at the slow clay surfaces. But he needs to answer that dynamic Fed-express backhand which freely runs over the opponents.
After slipping out of limelight for a short while, this could well be the Federer’s tournament.
The crowd will be hoping for an enthralling five setter game and they are unlikely to be let down.
It’s always difficult to choose between these two who will be remembered as the rulers of the World tennis. These moments are rare in Sports. Get ready for another thrilling marathon.
