One cannot argue with this - it was the soil that made man out of Nadal. In 2005, young Rafael, then still the 48th racket of the world, began his dirt campaign with small victories in the Costa Do Soupe and Acapulco. In Valencia, however, the quarter-finals were lost to Igor Andreev, but this was the last defeat. And then it started: Monte Carlo - Barcelona - Rome - Roland Garros. Plus two more ground victories in Bastad and Stuttgart in July 2005, and Rafael Nadal is already the second.
Of course, one cannot say that Rafael Nadal owes his second place in the ranking only to the ground. The final in Miami in 2005 helped him get there. Two hard Masters helped to stay there - in Montreal and Madrid, victory in Dubai 2006, Wimbledon final of the same year. This season, Indian Wells came to the rescue.
But the ground is holy. And it's not even about rating points that need to be protected. No luck in Barcelona - you can get it in Casablanca, Munich or Estoril. It doesn’t work in Rome - next comes the Hamburg dirt “Masters”. Anyway, Nadal can score points on any surface, even at Wimbledon, because points are not necessarily a victory, they are just a good result.
And on the ground, Nadal needs a victory, not a good result, because the ground is the heart of Nadal. And the heart of the soil is Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome, Roland Garros. These four tournaments for the Spaniard are about the same as for Federer Wimbledon, Indian Wells, Miami and Dubai. This is his territory, this is something that, as it were, belongs to him by right of birth and that he has to conquer all the time from greedy relatives.
Everything ends sooner or later. Federer was a three-time winner of Indian Wells and a two-time winner of Miami, but Guillermo Cañas managed to put an end to this. Rafe is still far from Roger. All Rafa can do now is go through the lossless route from these four tournaments again. The question is what Roger himself thinks about this.
Their relationship is like a series, a real soap opera. The official statistics of personal meetings, excluding exhibition matches, are still on the side of Nadal - 6: 3. And the matter is not only in the ground. If Nadal defeated Federer only on earth, then the score would be 5: 4 in favor of Roger. That’s all the salt. Rafa prevented the newly made first racket of the world from winning the first Miami in 2004. And if not for Nadal in the final in 2006, Roger would now be a five-time winner of the tournament in Dubai. Thank God, the Spaniard did not encroach on the sacred, on Wimbledon. But he tried. Rafael inflicted several offensive defeats on his territory to Roger. But Roger still has never been able to beat Raphael on earth.
Last year, Nadal managed to recapture three finals from Federer - Monte Carlo, Rome, Roland Garros. Will he be able to do it again? Roger wants the whole Grand Slam the way he probably wanted nothing in his tennis life. To do this, he needs a little - Roland Garros. And it was his Nadal who was preventing him from winning for two years in a row. Given the fundamental nature of the soil issue, Roger in front of Roland Garros will probably try to roll a trial ball. And maybe this will happen in Monte Carlo.
We can see the further development of this intrigue only in the final, if both get there. Do not forget that there are many other players who have their own plans in this regard, and they do not care about the ground confrontation between Federer and Nadal. In the end, some Kanyas can suddenly appear in the grid. This proper name has almost become a household name, like a photocopier, for example. And such a common kanyas can be drawn in front of Nadal for a change. We hope that this will not happen with Nadal. If Rafa makes it to the finals, he will be unprincipled with whom to play, the main thing is to defend the title. But Roger in the final without Rafa will be sad and lonely. Another victory at Masters? Yes, he has a million of them. Everyone defeated on the ground? Yes, and so on the ground for two years he did not lose to anyone. Except Nadal.
Ksenia VITRYAK