So you probably heard there was a tennis match played yesterday. I know, I know, I wish I’d seen it too—how did Shahar Peer come back from a set down to beat Samantha Stosur at the ECM Prague Open? Unbelievable!
Instead, I was stuck for five hours watching two guys named Federer and Nadal on a dirty court in Rome, and just for kicks, another 2 hours and 48 minutes of Justine Henin-Hardenne and Nadia Petrova in Berlin. My DVR couldn’t handle either of them—Fed and Rafa were only in the third set when it gave up and stopped taping. I managed to avoid seeing the result over the course of the day (this is disgracefully easy to do in the U.S.; SportsCenter had too many May baseball games to cover to bother even mentioning Federer-Nadal) and caught the last two sets at 1:00 this morning.
I’m glad I did, because even after five hours, five sets, and 351 points, they were still deadlocked, at 5-5 in the final-set tiebreaker. This was the best match the two have played, both in terms of quality and drama. More important for the immediate future, it was the best that Federer has performed against Nadal on clay. The world No. 1 was the better player for most of the day. He just didn’t have the same core belief that he could win that Nadal did, as evidenced by his inability to capitalize on his many leads. Federer was up 4-2 in the second-set tiebreaker, poised to go up two sets to none; instead, Nadal won it 7-5 to even the match. In the final set, Federer was up 4-1 in games and then 4-2 in the tiebreaker. Again, Nadal nosed him out at the finish line to win 7-5.
Still, Federer looked good from the get-go. He won the first point at the net and the second with a drop shot, a smart clay-court play that he has disdained in the past. He seemed to have a game plan this time—pound his forehand into Nadal’s backhand to open up the down the line; get to the net on short balls; avoid Nadal’s forehand unless he had the offensive. This was the first time I’d seen Tony Roche, Federer’s part-time coach, in the stands in a while—maybe the guy is worth having around after all.
Federer maintained his advantage through the first two sets. He read Nadal’s passing shots well and consistently stuck his backhand volleys, even when stretched (his crosscourt pickoffs reminded me of John McEnroe’s, who was in the audience). At 6-5 in the first set, Federer hit a spectacular inside-out forehand that clipped the sideline. Nadal was impressed enough to purse his lips and raise his eyebrows as it went past—“Not bad, Rogelio, not bad.” Meanwhile, the Spaniard struggled with his return of serve. For the first time in this clay season, he looked unsure of himself.
All of that changed in the second-set tiebreaker. Federer went up 4-2, but Nadal, as always, responded to the threat by getting more aggressive. At 5-5, Federer overhit an easy forehand long. On set point, Nadal slipped on the clay and had to improvise an ugly forehand-chop approach shot. Federer drilled his pass into the middle of the net. The tone was set: Federer was unable to measure his game well on the biggest points, while Nadal did whatever it took to escape.
That scenario played out to an even greater degree in the fifth set. Federer served and fought well to go up 4-1, but leave it to Nadal to look intimidating even when all hope seems lost. The Spaniard came out to serve at 1-4, won the first point, and proceeded to do one of his leg-kicking fist-pumps, as if he were on the verge of winning the match. Federer looked surprised and went on to make a series of errors. For his part, the Spaniard suddenly found his return of serve, just when he needed to. Has there ever been a player better than Nadal at ignoring negative momentum?
The torture wasn’t over for Federer. He went up 6-5 and, after Nadal hit his first double fault of the day (Federer had none, both shocking stats), he found himself at 0-30, two points from the match. During the next rally, Federer had a golden opportunity to come forward, something he had been doing successfully all day—he won 76 percent of his points at net—but he clung to the baseline and eventually lost the point. After a Nadal miss, Federer found himself with two match points. He misfired on both, the second one with a wild, premature attempt at a forehand winner up the line. Again, Federer had failed to measure the crucial point, and Nadal would sneak away with his fifth win over him in six matches.
Did Federer choke? Yes—it’s clear that Nadal is in his head to the point where Federer doesn’t play his best in the biggest moments. Should Federer be encouraged by the match? Yes and no. He proved conclusively that he can play with Nadal on clay, and the surface in Rome is close to what they’ll see in Paris. But Federer failed to get what he really needs—the win that will put a seed of doubt in Nadal’s head. After getting out of this one, Rafa must feel bulletproof going into Roland Garros. He'll be favored to wrap up a second-straight clay-court triple crown in Paris, though Federer will be desperate not to play the role of Alydar to Nadal's Affirmed.
Just-For-the-Record Department
The Women
Petrova vs. Henin-Hardenne was also a barn-burner. I didn’t think Petrova had the variety and speed to stay with Henin-Hardenne, but the Russian slugged, served, volleyed, and scrapped her way to her second win over the Belgian in 10 meetings. There were many long deuce games, and Petrova came out on top of her share, eventually winning 7-5 in the third. I’ll admit it, after her fourth tournament win of 2006 and 15th match win in a row, she’s got a shot at Roland Garros. And maybe the WTA has finally found a new top-tier player.
Nadal vs. Federer: The Pre-Match
I was curious to see whether Nadal would force Federer to wait at the net for the coin flip, as he does with everyone else. I wasn’t sure he would have the guts to do it to the world No. 1. I should have known better. Nadal kept Federer out there swinging his racquet nervously for a couple of minutes. Then he bounced out like a Spanish version of Cassius Clay. Prior to that, Nadal had also forced Federer to wait in the tunnel for a fairly long time before presenting himself so they could enter the court together. The kid knows his mind games. One nice moment: After the coin toss, they posed for a picture together at the net; once it was taken, they gave each other just the barest of “this should be fun” smiles before heading to the baseline.
Nadal vs. Federer: The Sportsmen
Both guys are good sports when it comes to line calls, but the heat of this battle did get to them. After conceding a few points early, Nadal suddenly couldn’t find a mark on an out call against Federer later in the match. He held his arms up as if the mark had just disappeared before his eyes. On an even more crucial call, Federer actually pointed at the wrong mark on a Nadal shot that had clearly been in. Don’t hold it against them. I’ve been tempted to do the same thing in Saturday morning pickup matches at my club. I can’t imagine what it would take to give away a point in the final of the Italian Open.
Roman Warriors
What else happened at the venerable Foro Italico? There was a lot of nice weather, and pleasant surprises from Gael Monfils, who reached the semifinals, Nicolas Almagro, who ran Federer all over the court before losing 7-5 in the third in the quarters, and Andy Roddick, who made a nice run to the quarters. Has the U.S. found a new clay-court hope?