French Open: Rafael Nadal vs. Roger Federer - observations on the classic
Rafael Nadal remains untouchable in Roland Garros against Roger Federer. A few observations on the eternally young hit from Friday afternoon.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Jun 07, 2019, 04:34 pm
Nobody is to blame, of course - but the fact that the semi-final day was so influenced by the weather hurts a bit. Nadal would have most likely won the match even if there was no wind, but Federer's chances of his first success against the Spaniard in Paris had been reduced to a minimum from the outset.
Rafael Nadal is bigger in real life than he appears on the TV screen. All the more astonishing how smoothly this giant still flies across the square after all these years.
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Once you are caught in the mill of the Spanish grand master, there is no escape. Nadal can not only maintain his starting level - he also gets stronger from sentence to sentence. Robin Söderling did not get ground in 2009, nor did Novak Djokovic in 2015. In both cases, you can ask afterwards whether Nadal was really fully fit at the time of the respective matches.
One could say cheekily that Yannick Hanfmann and Yannick Maden Nadal made the toughest demands on their way to the final (yes, David Goffin was the only one to win a set, but otherwise surrendered without a fight). But it is true, of course, that Nadal gets slower in the first few laps. But never so that he is really in danger.
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As in previous rounds, Roger Federer won the audience contest. From which he can not buy anything. Participation in the semi-finals brought him six best-of-five matches from ashes. Also to prepare for the lawn. He wanted to swing through the balls there too. Just like in the past few days on sand.
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The end of the second movement came as a short version of many duels between Nadal and Federer. The Swiss don't take advantage of opportunity after opportunity, but Nadal only needs one.
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The French audience got a little strange at 12:50 a.m. It wasn't until the middle of the first sentence that the stands were really full. The short break until the match between Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem was astonishing: the exchange of the entire audience (the semifinals are now sold in separate sessions) was estimated at just a quarter of an hour.
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Small Postcript: Tony Godsick was not amused after the match. Less about the presentation of his protégé Roger Federer. No, the manager of the Maestro contested the obstacle course that the Swiss had to complete on the way from the players' area to the press center.