Madrid history: Federer, Nadal and Djokovic.
Posted by tennisplanet on October 14, 2007
Federer has played here just three times in his career, winning once, last year. Juan Carlos Ferrero took him out in the semis in 2003, and Fabrice Santoro took care of him in the quarters in 2002.
But last year, he won the title, without dropping a set, although he was stretched to three tie-breaks en route. Still, he dished out two bagels. One in the semis against Nalbandian, and the second in the freaking final against Gonzalez.
Average time on court per match? An hour and 28 minutes.
Can he match it this year? With this friendly draw, it should be upgraded.
Nadal has participated four times, winning once, in 2005. Last year, Berdych took him out in the quarters in straight sets. He could be looking at deja vo, if he gets past Baghdatis and Chela.
Ljubicic took him to five-sets in the finals in 2005, before Nadal could lift the trophy. Before that, he was taken out in the first and the second round.
Djokovic has been here just once, last year. Gonzalez took him out in the quarters in three close sets 7-5, 5-7, 7-5.
Anand_101 said
Consider Berdych to make the F on the opposite side of the draw. Last year he defeated Roddick, Nadal in fine form and then lost to the crowd’s reaction (and to a red hot Gonzalez). He is older, wiser and should get the job done against Clement, Robredo, Stepanek, before facing a real challenge against Djokovic. I tip him to take out the Djoker in straight sets but lose to Fed in the final.
Eva said
The trophy is Federer’s. There is no real threat for him. Ferrer is hot now, like Gonzalez was at beginning of the year–remember how everyone was fired up and making all kind of predictions? I cank’t visualize him winning against Federer.
Berdych has beaten Nadal here: with a very bad crowd reaction all the way from the beginning. Blake, too, was disrespected, I believe. I think that kind of thing bothers Berdych, and he may see a repeat.
I distinctly feel it is the umpire’s job to stop immediately that kind of behaviour.
Djokovic is the same player: strong all arond, but no outstanding strengths and without Fed’s change of pace and strategy and instinctive tactics. Hope he doesn’t need to take several medical breaks, because he will really arouse the dislike of players and crowd alike.
Nalbandian and Chela should be interesting to watch. Nalbandian is a determined, lasting, and tough player. His year was not so good–maybe people don’t remember, but it was at the beginning of the year, maybe at the Australian Open that he’d received tragic news that a couple of his younger family members died in a freak elevator accident. He stayed to play, but I think it affected him for the rest of the year.
Re Novak again, I think Safin is a superior player compared to him. Comparison is based on the fact that Safin has greater talent blut has some emotional issues, whereas Novak”s cockiness has overestimated his game. Sorry to have to say this, but with some young male players the well-known sexual/testoterone urges make them also susceptibe to this ego-inflation. (No pun intended.)So he is in the ten, which is great for him. Even if he goes after #2, ( and I think Nadal won’t want to give the position over to him, because after all, he is superior to Djokovic aand because of his strength on clay), I agree with Fed, who said that a ranking of 2 or 3 makes no difference–only number one counts. Of course, beyond that, to be in the first 10 or eight really does make a difference during regular tournaments.