Nadal or Federer Tonight?
The semi-final we're all looking forward to is only 14 or so hours away and so the greatest rivalry in tennis about to get another installment. It's amazing that Rafa and Roger are still in the top three after more than a decade.
Federer has been luckier with injuries while we all know the toll that Rafa's game has taken on his knees. 2016-2018 saw Rafa contemplating retirement but he looks like he has put his injury troubles behind him and is working well with his new coach, Carlos Moya.
The two recently met at Roland Garros where Nadal won in three easy sets but grass favors a completely different style of play. It favors aggression and taking chances, while clay favors conservatism and playing things safe.
If Nadal is to win this one, he needs to be the aggressor and look no further than his match against Kygrios. Kygrios' style of play is all-out-attack which makes him a difficult opponent on grass and Nadal was able to overcome him in four difficult sets.
This has all the makings of a good match like their 2008 finals here and like that time, i'm going to be leaning on a Nadal win.
- Free use image of Nadal in 2011 off Flickr
Certainly a familiar match up, these two fight it out regularly. On grass, I favour Federer for this one, but this year looks like Nadal's best chance for a long time to topple his great rivals grass dominance.
Yes, the risk i see is Nadal retreating to his default defensive style of play which really doesn't suit grass.
Totally agree, he needs to play very agressive tennis and try to dominate right from the start. Should be the match of the tournament.
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It will always be nadal