Semifinals can be one of the most difficult and entertaining games in any sport. Whether its the Fifa World Cup, the Conference Finals in NBA or any of tennis’ grand slams, they have an air of exuberance about them.Such games can also be defining moment in one’s journey towards an elusive title or even at times signalling the end of a career.
Rafael Nadal’s career is filled with exultation, euphoria and vigour.Anything less would not be Rafa by definition.His hold on being the best player on clay is unchallengeable in any court.11 French opens are more than enough to lay that claim.Even if he had 9(one more than Max Degucis),he would been crowned the King. However,with his zest and honours,comes a track of injuries he has suffered over the years and a price to pay on arguably the most difficult surface in tennis to play on.
To dismiss Rafa on clay early in the season would be to say that Brazil won’t ever win another Fifa World Cup.As long he has entered the Stade Roland Garros, he will be in the reckoning, no matter what the field is.But the field will be stronger.Roger Federer plays for the 1st time in four years in Paris and Novak Djokovic is much stronger than a year ago when he lost to Marco Cecchinato in the quarters as a 20th seed in Paris.20th seed ? He is World no 1 now having won all the three slams since that loss. Dominic Thiem also is proving a strong contender.
Having said Rafa still has the edge on clay.His early clay court season form though has had dents in it already.In Monte Carlo, he was upset by the eventual winner Fabio Fognini ending his 18 match streak at the tourney.Barcelona was next where he again was a 3 time defending champion.He met Dominic Thiem in a semi and lost in straight sets.He entered Madrid Masters as the no. 2 seed and having won here 2 years ago, was a strong favourite.
Under the floodlights of the Manolo Santana stadium court,he had lost no more than seven games in a contest leading up to the semi finals.That is,till he played the “Next Gen” star, Stefanos Tsitsipas.Stefanos only won 6 games against Rafa in their grand slam encounter in the Australian Open in an embarassing semi defeat for the 20 yr old at the Rod Laver Arena.Madrid though was different and Stefanos was a different contender.His array of ground strokes and youthful brilliance conquered the first set and pushed Rafa to bring his best on clay in set no 2.
Rafa obliged having won 4 straight to end the second set and draw level.However, in the decider, the Greek star held his nerve countering break points on his own to force the advantage and break for a 3-2 lead and then another for a 5-2 cushion and settle the tie.Rafa ousted from another Masters tourney on clay in 2019 and remains win less on clay with Rome and Paris in waiting .He hasn’t made it to a final on the surface yet either.Are we seeing chinks in the armour now ?Oh well, clay does produce a fair share of upsets.
Could it be accumulating fatigue ?Could the injuries have been taking its toll ?Could the opposition on clay have got stronger in 2019? Too early to tell but there might be hints in each factor.He has 57 clay court titles so far, something which might not be broken in a long long time but is that the final number ?Or a blip ?Rafa has come back too many times to make that number static.
In the context of the 2019 season, Rafa hasn’t won a title yet.Incidentally his last win came against Tsitsipas was on Toronto’s hard courts.Surprise, surprise,he is the defending champion in both Rome and at Roland Garros, so will have to defend a lot of ranking points.Though that might be the least of his worries.This could be a keenly contested three weeks of clay court tennis(Italian and French Open) for years. We might just have to wait still till the chequered flag can be raised for an end of the road to Monstruo Rojo (Red Monster).
Sportsfan Says 