Roger Federer’s dream of becoming the first man in 37 years to hold all four grand-slam titles will be at the mercy of Mallorcan muscleman Rafael Nadal when the French Open gets under way on Sunday.
In the history of the game, only five men have won Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the Australian and United States Open crowns.
But it is Federer’s misfortune that his place as one of tennis’s greatest-ever players looks like being strangled by the teenaged, defending champion from Spain whose brutality of shot-making is matched only by the shock to the eyes of his bright orange shirts and white pirates’ trousers.
Such is the current dominance of the Swiss master and his Spanish nemesis that this year’s French Open has all the hallmarks of being a two-man show, with the only serious debate centred on whether Federer can finally lay his Nadal jinx to rest.
The world number one has won just one of the pair’s six career meetings; Nadal has been responsible for all of Federer’s three defeats in 2006, including the finals of the clay-court Monte Carlo and Rome Masters events.
In the process, Nadal has pulled level with Guillermo Vilas’s record of 53 successive wins on clay, set back in 1977, and few would bet against him defending the Roland Garros title he won last year on his debut appearance.
But Federer, who squandered two match points against Nadal in their five-hour final marathon in Rome, isn’t giving up.
”I have to play him more often to figure him out and that is what I have been doing. I think I am getting closer and closer,” said Federer, who has never been at his most comfortable here, losing three times in the first round before losing to Nadal in the semifinals last year.
”I don’t think I need to change anything in the way I play him. I should have won in Rome. I was just one shot away from doing that, so it could happen in Paris. I already knew after Monte Carlo that I was extremely close. I’m on the right track.”
Nadal has never lost to Federer on clay, but the 19-year-old still believes the Swiss is the better player. ”I think he’s a great champion and he has overcome many things, tougher things,” said Nadal. ”He has won seven grand slams, and he been in so many finals. He’s definitely at the moment better than any other player.”
Despite that modesty, Nadal already has the game’s heavyweights licking their lips in anticipation at what he might achieve. ”He seems so far ahead of all the other players,” said John McEnroe. ”I remember watching Boris Becker and I was just like: ‘How can this guy be 17 years old and be so physically big and intimidating at such a young age?’ Nadal is the same way.”
French Open organisers have opted for a Sunday start to maximise television viewing figures and they need Federer and Nadal to shine, with the demands of the tour having taken their toll on some of the game’s big names who might have been expected to put up a degree of resistance to the two favourites.
Former champions Andre Agassi and Gustavo Kuerten are missing through injury, as is 2004 runner-up Guillermo Coria.
Ex-world number ones Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt arrive in Paris under a cloud.
Safin, a semifinalist here in 2002 and who took Federer’s Australian Open title in 2005, missed the second half of last season and has played just 18 matches in 2006, seeing his world ranking slump to 52.
Hewitt, who missed the entire clay-court season in 2005 and was off the tour for two months this year with a foot injury, played his first clay-court match in two years in Austria on Monday and was dumped out at the first-round stage by Brazil’s world number 89 Marcos Daniel.
The 25-year-old Australian compounded his problems by twisting his ankle in the final set tiebreak and collapsing to the ground. ”I’m in a lot of pain. Only the next days will show how serious it is,” said Hewitt.
Argentina’s David Nalbandian is one of a batch of players who could just nudge the Federer-Nadal juggernaut off course.
The 24-year-old, who took Federer’s Masters Cup in 2005 and picked up the Estoril clay-court title this year, was only beaten by the Swiss in the Rome Masters semifinals in a final-set tiebreak.
The world number three is the only player, apart from Nadal, to boast a winning career record against Federer.
Gaston Gaudio, the shock winner in 2004, took a set off Nadal in the semifinals in Monte Carlo but managed just one win in the subsequent clay-court Masters events in Rome and Hamburg.
Spain’s Tommy Robredo has form on his side, finishing runner-up to Nadal in Barcelona before claiming the title in Hamburg in the absence of both the world’s top two. — Sapa-AFP