It’s safe to say Roger Federer’s effort in his 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 loss to Rafael Nadal in Saturday’s Madrid semifinal was what many had hoped to see last month in Miami, where he suffered a dismal 6-3, 6-2 loss to the Spaniard at the same stage.
Two things changed for Federer on this day—first, he decided to not back off and instead really go for his shots. That was obvious from the get-go, when he missed a plenty of shots by a wide margin, but at least he was not tentative.
The second was that he took his time when things began to unravel. That was subtly visible when it looked as if the first set could escape him very quickly at 0-2, deuce, on his serve after he failed to convert a 40-15 lead. As he got ready to serve, Federer picked away at his racquet strings for a brief moment to collect himself, likely the result of coach Paul Annacone impressing that he should not rush and fall deeper into the morass, as he did in Miami.
Nadal missed a backhand return on that point and then made another backhand error. Federer won the game and avoided a demoralizing 0-3 start. From that juncture forward, it was a compelling encounter, with Nadal not quite at his best, possibly because of the news of the death of Spanish golfing great Severiano Ballesteros. There was a minute of silence before the match and Nadal wore a black ribbon on his yellow shirt, even though it came unstuck twice.
Federer’s aggressive shots gradually found their mark—he was noticeably effective off his backhand side—and he broke back to 4-all. His confidence rose and he got a service break in the last game of the set, winning the final two points with a sensational backhand flick pass from deep in the court and a big service return, followed by an inside-out forehand winner.
Anything seemed possible until Federer lost serve in the opening game of the second set on an out call on the baseline that was checked by umpire Mohamed Lahyani. Federer got into it with Lahyani at the end-change, saying, “You think he’s right; you know he hasn’t got a clue,” apparently about the linesman. Eventually, Lahyani had to say, “Roger, it’s enough,” and rightly so, because Hawk-Eye confirmed the call was correct.
Nadal broke again for 3-0 and took the set 6-1, but not before Federer hung around, hit some scintillating shots and showed he wasn’t about to capitulate as he had in Miami.
Nadal saved a break point at 1-all in the third set and in the following game broke Federer's serve, after a forehand by the Swiss appeared to have been a winner on game point at 40-30. But Lahyani checked the mark (again confirmed by Hawk-Eye) and the correct call was made. Federer sarcastically complained “linespeople are always right” to Lahyani. Nadal then made a jaw-dropping get off a Federer drop shot, angling a backhand along the net, just out of Federer’s reach, and took the game on a deep service return that forced a backhand error long.
It could have been Federer’s last gasp, but he managed to get a break point with some superb shotmaking as Nadal served for the match at 5-3. But a botched backhand service return on the break point, followed by two more backhand misses, meant the match was over in two hours and 36 minutes.
It had to be encouraging for Federer that he could do so many good things—including some serving-and-volleying—and be competitive against Nadal on clay. But the conditions for him against Nadal are the most favourable at altitude in Madrid, so no serious conclusions should be drawn about his chances against the King of Clay in the next few weeks in Rome and Paris.
—Tom Tebbutt