Federer and Nadal

Not more than two years ago we were talking of Federer winning close to 20 Grand slam tournaments. And Federer winning the grandslam sooner or later was supposed to be a foregone conclusion. But life can be cruel and sports more so. People had not foreseen Rafa becoming such an unstoppable juggernaut and having such a hold over Federer. I do not think any of the above is going to happen now. Infact I will stick my neck out and say that the only chance Federer now has of winning any of Australian Open, Wimbledon or US Open (French open is out of question) is if he does not meet Nadal in the final. He has to pray and pray real hard that someone upsets Nadal in the earlier rounds.

Nadal has gotten inside his head and created deep scars in his brain. Scars that do not heal and which only get deeper with every contest between these two.  Watching Federer cry yesterday was sad but also an indication of how helpless he feels against this bull from Spain. He just does not look the same sublime silky Federer which rolls over every other foe. He screwed up almost all the crucial points. In the third set, he was up 0-40 on Nadals serve and lost it. In the next Nadals service game he was up 15-40 and screwed it. In the 5th set he screwed up big time. It might be the worst set he has ever played. He made seven straight unforced errors to first lose his service game and then go 0-40 down in Nadal's. He made a double fault in his last service game.  His first service was shambolic. I do not think that in that last service game he got even a single first serve in. He missed easy volleys, made endless errors on his reliable backhand. I saw the whole match and I just kept on waiting and waiting for some stroke of genius from Federer. But it never came.  Nadal outran him, outhit him, outclassed him. And this was a man who had just played an epic 5 hour long 5 setter just one day ago.  I think now Nadal is the man most likely to win a career grand slam. Its only US open that remains and he should get it this year or the next. 

A couple of years ago there was talk of Federer cometing only against history. Well history can take a break because present has thrown up this bundle of muscles and steel who might just create a history of his own. And for Federer I am sure chasing history was much easier than chasing this man.