On a day Spain was mourning the loss a national sports icon, the country’s newest athletic superhero gave all Spaniards a reason to feel a bit better.
Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer today in the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open, 5-7 6-1 6-3, after a touching on-court tribute to legendary Spanish golfer Seve Ballesteros. Ballesteros, a five-time major winner and one of the best shot-makers in the history of golf, died earlier Saturday from complications of a cancerous brain tumor. Nadal honored the life of “the inventor of Spanish golf” by showing he was a pretty good shot-maker himself, albeit on the tennis court.
Nadal came from behind in a match whose scoreline does not adequately describe the closeness of the encounter. Federer, who was blown off the court by Nadal in a lackluster effort just two months ago in Miami, had a chance to take control of the match early in the final set, but was unable to overcome the tenacity of the Spaniard when it mattered most.
With Nadal serving at 1-1 in the deciding set, Federer earned a break point by dictating play with pinpoint groundstrokes and aggressive returns, but squandered it by sending an easy backhand well beyond the baseline. One clutch serve and one unforced error later, Nadal had escaped the threat, saving his absolute best tennis for the most critical points of the match.
In the very next game, with Federer leading 40-15 and seemingly on his way to an easy hold, Nadal fought back to deuce and then came up with one of the best shots of the match. Federer induced a short ball off a scorching crosscourt forehand, and played a beautiful drop shot. Nadal streaked to the net just in time to flick the ball at an impossible angle by the Swiss, splitting the sideline with incredible accuracy, and seizing the all-important break of serve. In a blink of the eye, Nadal went from the brink of being down 1-3 to being in firm control of the match at 4-1 after he easily consolidated the break by holding serve at love.
The No. 1 ranked player in the world came into the match with a dominating 36 match winning streak on clay, dating back to the 2009 French Open, during which he had only dropped three sets. From the outset, it appeared as if Nadal would again run away and hide from his opponent, breaking the former No. 1 Swiss in the opening game of the match. Nothing went well for Federer at the beginning of the first set, especially his serve. He struggled mightily to get his first serve in the play, and Nadal was hammering away at his second serve offerings. Midway through the opening set, though, Federer became more aggressive and starting mixing up drop shots with aggressive approaches to the net, and it started to pay dividends.
With Nadal up a break and serving at 4-3, Federer hit a running down-the-line forehand winner to set up a break point. After failing to convert on three previous break points, Federer stepped into a return of serve and evened the match. Serving at 5-5, Federer found himself in trouble once again, down 0-40 and facing three break points. From that point, Federer won 9 out the final 11 points to come back and steal the set from Nadal and stun the Spanish crowd.
Nadal came out in the second stanza determined to keep his clay court win streak alive in front of his home fans, and again broke Federer in the opening game. This time, however, the Spaniard was relentless in defending his advantage and cruised through the second set to set up the final set triumph and seal his come-from-behind victory.
It was the 24th meeting of this rivalry that has defined the last half-decade of men’s tennis. Nadal, with this victory, doubles Federer’s victory total at 16-8. More importantly, afte the last two matches, there have to be some serious doubts creeping into Federer’s head on whether or not he sustain the level of play necessary to beat Nadal. In fact, it raises the question if there is anyone who can get the better of Nadal on his favorite surface, especially at the French Open, where his opponents will need to win 3 out of 5 sets.
The answer to that question could be known as early as tomorrow evening, when Nadal will face the world No. 2 Novak Djokovic in the final. It will be the third Masters 1000 final the two have played this year--Djokovic won the other two matches on North American hard courts. Djokovic will come into the match riding his own win streak--the Serb has yet to drop a match in 2011, and will put 31 consecutive victories on the line tomorrow.
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