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PARIS: Rafael Nadal’s ruthless pursuit of a
historic fourth straight French Open title is likely to deliver
another, possibly fatal blow to Roger Federer’s lingering dream of
an elusive Roland Garros crown.
The Spaniard boasts a perfect
record of three titles and 21 wins in 21 matches since his debut in
Paris in 2005 and another victory on June 8 will take him alongside
Bjorn Borg (1978 to 1981) as the only man to win four in a row.
The left-handed Mallorcan has
beaten Federer in the last two French Open finals as the world
number one’s hopes of becoming just the sixth man to win all four
Grand Slam titles have come up heartbreakingly short.
Nadal, 21, has also won eight of
the duo’s nine meetings on clay including the Monte Carlo and
Hamburg Masters tournaments this season and since April 2005, the
Spaniard has racked up 108 wins in 110 claycourt matches.
Federer has got used to being
confronted with such overwhelming statistics.
But 2008 has seen the Swiss, with
12 Grand Slam titles to his name, endure one of his worst years on
the tour with just one trophy to show for five months frustrating
graft.
There is also another worry in
the colorful shape of Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, the 20-year-old who
took his Australian Open title and showed off his claycourt
credentials with victory at the Rome Masters.
Little wonder that the popular
Federer is hoping that Nadal, who suffered blisters in Rome and
needed treatment for a leg injury in Hamburg, might suffer a
physical collapse.
“He is perhaps struggling a bit
more due to the stress with the levels of the last few weeks. I am
completely fine and I will be ready for the French Open,” said
Federer after seeing his nemesis relieve him of his Hamburg title in
a defeat which ended a 41-match winning streak on German soil.
Nadal, however, has shrugged off
any fears over his fitness.
“I was a little bit tired,”
explained the world’s No. 2 whose battling style saw him come back
from 5-1 down in the first set in Hamburg after also winning a
three-set, three-hour semifinal over Djokovic the previous day.
“But later everything changed.
It’s important to beat the number one [Federer] and the best this
year [Djokovic]. With this result, I’m already in the Masters Cup.
I continue to be the number two but closer to the number one.”
Djokovic is breathing down both
men’s necks.
Beaten by Nadal in the semifinals
here in 2007 and quarter-finals in 2006, the Serbian world’s No. 3
who celebrates his 21st birthday on Thursday, is the most successful
player on tour this year.
He won his first Grand Slam title
in Melbourne dropping just one set in seven rounds and also clinched
the Indian Wells Masters before his win in Rome.
--AFP
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