Rafael Nadal Fans

Rafa Roundup: Waiting for the Federer-Nadal reunion

CINCINNATI, OH - AUGUST 20: Rafael Nadal of Spain looks on during his match against Feliciano Lopez of Spain on Day 6 of the Western & Southern Open at the Lindner Family Tennis Center on August 20, 2015 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
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This is the tennis world we live in at the moment. Waiting for a Nadal-Federer reunion feels roughly the way it felt waiting for the Beatles to get back together in the mid-70s. …

… Perhaps this is a sign that, unlike the Beatles, we will have our Federer-Nadal reunion someday. As each of them has proven over the last two years, auras can go, but they can come back just as quickly. The magical aura surrounding their rivalry will always be there, waiting for them to walk onto a court together again.

“It means a lot when you beat such a good player like him,” Lopez said. “It’s not a normal match.  It’s something different and the atmosphere there when you play against Rafa, it’s always something special … I think he’s playing better, getting better and better. He played good today. I mean I was playing really my best today. Doesn’t matter the way he played because I was playing so good today.”

At Wimbledon this year, Dustin Brown knew he could beat Nadal because he had seen three other guys—Lukas Rosol, Steve Darcis, Nick Kyrgios—do it by throwing caution to the wind on Centre Court. In Montreal, Nishikori knew he could beat Nadal by playing a slightly elevated and riskier version of his normal game, because he was so close to doing it in Madrid last year before he hurt himself. And Feli knew he could beat his friend Rafa because he had done it last fall. As with the law, precedent is everything in tennis.

“[In Montreal last week], in the quarter-finals, I didn’t compete as well as I wanted to,” said Nadal, who was eliminated in straight sets by Kei Nishikori in Canada. “But I am working hard, I had a positive start against [Chardy], a good opponent who won big matches last week and yesterday. Being through is great news for me, and I expect another tough match tomorrow.”

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2 comments

  1. I’m sure Rafa and Roger will meet up again! It would be interesting to see what adjustments
    Roger would have to make in order to defeat Rafa since their rivalry has been so lopsided.

    Although I admire Roger, of course his record speaks for itself, I realize he does have
    the advantage of coming into this tournament much fresher since he hasn’t played since
    Wimbledon whereas all the other players have been playing non-stop singles and doubles
    since Wimbledon on either clay or/and hard court. I’m glad they didn’t face each other today
    for that reason. I’d rather see them face each other after participating in the same # of
    tournaments just to be fair.

    Reply

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