The ONE factor leaning Nadal’s way for the final on Sunday.

Yeah, and that factor, based on Nadal’s recent history, is even more powerful than the possibility of winning the first hard court title.

It’s the home court advantage. It’s as close Nadal will come to playing Davis Cup for his country. And we all know how important that’s for Nadal.

Unlike most finals, this one won’t have too many vocal Federer fans for reasons related to self preservation, if nothing else.

And that energy will take Nadal to the edge before he loses physically. Mentally, it may never happen even if the scoreline screams for it.

Can someone put up this billboard at all tennis stadiums?

‘If you lose the freaking match, make freaking sure you are first to shake hands with the umpire’.

How freaking difficult is that to remember? Don’t make the winner rub it in. Shake the hand, pack up and get out of our hair – unless you have produced the match of the century.

Remember, YOU are the loser. Geeeeeezzz!!! The winner shouldn’t have to remind you of that by letting you shaking hands first.

Also start packing up your crap just before the last game to make the exit quick and swift. Either that or spend more time on the practice courts.

Nadal vs Djokovic @ Madrid.

Federer vs Del Potro @ Madrid.

Five conclusions from the Nadal-Djokovic semifinal.

1. Djokovic is the current No. 2 player on clay. Duh!!! 

2. The difference between the No. 1 and the No. 2 player may have narrowed down to the slimmest margin from the days of Federer being at No. 2 on clay.

3. Nadal CANNOT be taken down with just a superior game and skill on clay. You need the complete package from support structure to picking to bottle mania to mental strength to dumb look to feminine pinkie to……

4. Federer should not attempt to face Nadal at ANY final, irrespective of the sport. Nadal has grown so far past even Federer’s imagination – at least for him.

5. ‘Belief’ rules. Sunday may be another proof for it.

Nadal vs Federer.

Nadal vs Federer. What to expect.

Nadal’s five setter against Verdasco at the AO this year may have played a part in injecting complacency into Federer’s psyche, given Nadal’s record after gruelling matches, specially on hard courts.

Is this one of those scenarios too with a twist of an injury – on clay? There’s no question Federer has got to be feeling a lot confident, if not complacent, in winning the title on Sunday.

He must however be reminding himself of that AO final to hold himself back from jumping the gun. But no matter how hard he tries this injury component and the Hamburg memory is bound to play in his mind to constantly remind him that the title is his now.

There is a healthy medium to which this thinking and mindset will prove advantageous. But any slightest violation or breach of that mark and Federer may be in for another Wimbledon or AO final.

If Nadal truly feels the discomfort, handcuffing his usual movement, Federer will have to at least repeat the Hamburg scoreline making him a real contender at Roland Garros in his own mind.

But if Nadal pulls off another act similar to the one against Djokovic here or the AO final, Nadal should be crowned the ‘endurance’ king of tennis along with the clay kingdom he already owns.

So the anti-climatic possibility of the final on Sunday is forcing itself out by the minute to hand Federer his first title of the season by beating Nadal on clay of all the freaking people and surfaces.

Either way, Federer’s ace count will undoubtedly play a significant role no matter what happens. Nadal’s response to a monster ace-laden match from Federer so far, has been his own precision game played to perfection.

Remember Nadal beat Federer at Wimbledon last year despite 25 aces. Granted it was a five setter, but that’s still five aces per set. Add the surface to it and the degree of difficult catapults to a whole new level.

Nevertheless, the setting is perfect for Federer to regain some of his lost confidence with one stroke even it’s stripped of it’s usual thunder.

Fans can only wish for Nadal to be off just enough to deny whitewashing Federer in straight sets to witness another thriller – back to back. Shouldn’t Murray be fined a ‘lack of effort’ breach to rob us of three back to back thrillers?

Having said all that, IF Nadal somehow recuperates fully and is on his game, Federer WILL be humiliated – big time. To beat Federer twice – back to back – without being at his best – on two different surfaces – with Roland Garros in sight, WILL shoot Nadal’s confidence through the roof, if it’s not already there after today.

So there’s that air of uncertainty to the whole set up with Nadal’s knee problem. Had there been no AO final, this would have been a straight forward another Hamburg.

But now even an injured / tired Nadal, specially after this semifinal win over Djokovic, is no chopped liver. And that may be just enough to keep Federer honest and guessing forcing the best out of him to the point of maybe producing an epic battle to match that Wimbledon final.

I mean if Nadal can pull it off on hard court, what’s there to believe he cannot now – on clay.

Nadal’s condition may have been a big reason for Federer’s straight set win over Del Potro. With Nadal looking less intimidating, Federer may have been able to play a lot freely compared to the prospect of facing Nadal in full bloom.

Federer will now be forced to face his demons once again with a twist of the knee. Will that be enough to block years of damage and corrosion?

Answer coming up Sunday.

Nadal and Federer stats going for the final @ Madrid.

Joker	Aces	Ist serve pct.	Sets lost	Tie bks	Bk pt conv %	Time on court.	Matches played
Nadal	6	71	1	2	56	7:01	3 (1 w/over)
Federer	39	55	1	1	52	5:42	4

Nadal vs Djokovic match summary. From Dalia. Thanks.

hey guys…here is a summary of today’s 1st semifinal Nadal vs Djokovic, 3-6 7-6 7-6 for all who missed it..i tried to get the interview but i didnt find it yet so pls if anyone found it pls pls pls post it..thnx

Nadal tested to limits in semifinal:

Rafael Nadal fought off three match points to advance to the final of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open and preserve his incredible clay court match-winning streak in a four-hour three set semifinal thriller.

The world No.1 looked down and out at times during the Manolo Santana Stadium marathon but, despite opponent Novak Djokovic playing some of the best tennis of his career, the class that has seen Nadal win 18-consecutive clay court matches this season and 32-consecutive matches since 2008, eventually won out.

Saturday May 16, 2009 Novak Djokovic was uncompromising in the opening set, winning 93 percent of points when he got his first serve in and breaking once from two opportunities to take a one set to love lead in his third match with Nadal in four weeks.

The Serb made a strong start to the second set as well, going up a break 2-1, at which point Nadal called the trainer and received treatment for a right leg injury, returning to the court with the area immediately above his right knee heavily strapped.

The tournament top seed broke back and games progressed to 4-4, the ninth game of the set pivotal to the entire match.

With Nadal’s movement clearly not quite up to its usual high standard, world No.4 Djokovic

moved his opponent around the court and found himself up 40-15 on the Nadal serve, holding two valuable points to go a set and a break ahead.

Steeling himself, Nadal served his way out of trouble and into a 5-4 lead in the second set. Amazingly, after 18 completed games and one-hour, 44-minutes of play, he was yet to hold a break point on the Djokovic serve.

In the eleventh game of the set Djokovic had his third opportunity of the set to break Nadal but again the Spaniard fired down a huge serve, winning the next two points to go 6-5 ahead.

The world No.1 earned his first break point (and set point) in the twelfth game of the second

set but was unable to convert, taking the second to a tiebreaker. Having fought so hard, Nadal wasn’t about to surrender his 32-match winning streak (17-consecutive matches this season) in a breaker, leveling the match at a set apiece.

True to form, Djokovic broke serve early in the third set to lead 3-1. But despite this new set back, Nadal appeared to lose none of his customary intensity, playing each point on Djokovic’s next service game as if it were his last.

Breaking back for 2-3 Nadal celebrated with his trademark fist pump, then held serve to level the match at 3-3.

Games went with serve, setting the match up for a tiebreak decider in the third.

Djokovic earned his first match point of the contest at 6-5, Nadal hitting a forehand long after a long rally. The Spaniard’s forehand came into play again in the next point, a clean down-the-line winner leveling the score at six-points all in the breaker.

Djokovic again had a chance to serve out the match at 7-7 after another Nadal error, this time on the backhand. Again the gutsy Mallorcan hung in, hitting a gutsy forehand winner down Djokovic’s backhand line after a long rally exchange.

Next it was Nadal’s turn to squander a match point. Standing at 8-7, and with his nose ahead for the first time in the tiebreak, the Spaniard pushed a Djokovic drop shot back onto the Serb’s strings for an easy pass and the breaker was square at 8-8.

Djokovic’s last opportunity to close out the match came after Nadal hit another long backhand to give the Serb a 9-8 lead. But a big serve from the top seed leveled things again at 9-9. He didn’t look back, drilling a forehand winner to earn his second match point that he claimed off a netted forehand by Djokovic.

The world No.1 fell flat on his back in celebration, an indication of just how much the four hour, three-minute match meant to him.

http://www.madrid-open.com/site/news/36/3061

Photos.

Nadal beats Djokovic to set up the dream final with Federer.

Nadal won the semifinal against Djokovic after saving three match points in three sets, two of them close tie-breaks – in four freaking hours, a record.

But is this end of the line for Nadal now not just for Madrid but for Roland Garros too? Maybe.

The knee problem has flared up just in time for a repeat of that ‘Hamburg’ experience of 2007 when Federer not only won the final against Nadal on clay but also bageled him.

It proves once again on how fragile a surface Nadal is running on with his ultra physical game.

It’s hard to imagine that Nadal will be able to put the house together in perfect condition in the short time he has before he faces Federer in the final.

Maybe that’s not the biggest problem for Nadal today. Is Roland Garros or the rest of the season on the table too, if  not the career?

Not many should be surprised by this, since the scenario has now played itself over and over again for four straight years with little variation. This time, however, it’s awfully close to the big prize(s).

Whatever stupidity drove Nadal and his camp to go non stop at everything open on clay despite billboards all over the town screaming danger, it’s now time to face the music.

They can now only hope this will be short cute song instead of an endless symphony that will haunt Nadal for the rest of his life.

Maybe a loss in the semis may have been better for Nadal to stop and recuperate for Roland Garros. Now with so much on the line from prestige to ego to H2H record etc. etc. against Federer and the possibility of retiring very bleak against Djokovic’s backdrop, the likelihood of the injury getting worse in pretty good.

Federer couldn’t have asked for a better scenario to boost his confidence not just for winning his first title of the season but with the now open shot at bagging the only elusive title of his career.

Federer’s stats suddenly look so dominating vis a vis Nadal’s. Federer has 39 freaking aces to just six for Nadal. But the biggest one now is the ‘time on court’. Federer: 5:42. Nadal: 7:01.

This is Federer’s to lose now. If he loses this one, he should check himself at the nearest psychiatry ward to remove that block permanently.

Given what’s on the table, Nadal and his camp may already be talking about a walkover to take away the boost in conviction and happiness winning this title by beating Nadal, even in this state, will bring for Federer.

Is this the beginning of the process to hand over Federer the Roland Garros title? Could be. Even though it may not come at the expense of Nadal, at this point, it’s about ‘beggars cannot be choosers’.

Ideally Nadal should have skipped either Barcelona or Madrid to keep his Roland Garros hopes alive. Now the bigger prize appears to have been sacrificed for some low life creature with stupid points towards the No. 1 rank. 

Nevertheless, Nadal still deserves credit for coming through in that condition against the toughest opponent he has had on clay this year. Djokovic had to be feeding on that extra meal delivered to him when Murray was knocked out by Del Potro to reclaim his No. 3 rank.

This showing also raises Djokovic to a legitimate contender status at Roland Garros. Watch for Federer to break everything in sight before crying like a baby if Djokovic beats him in the final or the semifinal with Nadal out of the picture.

But Federer will take Djokovic over Nadal any day, even if takes away some of the juice of winning Roland Garros.

FO may now be up for grabs alongwith the No. 1 rank by year end.