Day 14 Men’s Final: Tennis Australian Open 2009

February 1, 2009 by Brad Hobbs
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Fed & Rafa preview: It gets no bigger

Sunday 1 February 2009
By Alix Ramsay

It’s been a long time since Roger Federer sounded ominous. He spent most of last year sounding, variously, disappointed (after losing in the semifinals of the Australian Open), resigned (after losing in the French Open final) and miserable as sin (after losing in the Wimbledon final). Throughout much of that time, he also looked pale and under the weather or, as the good people of Glasgow would have it: peely-wally. But ominous he wasn’t.

He perked up enormously when he won the US Open, but he was still not the Roger of old, the dominant presence and master of all he surveyed. He was back on the winner’s podium, but someone else had taken his No. 1 ranking and taken from him the trophies he held most dear.

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Now, though, the Mighty Fed is in his 18th Grand Slam final, and he is sounding ominous again. He is back to doing what he likes to do best – chasing history. He has already matched Pete Sampras’ record of final appearances and now he wants to match the American’s record of Grand Slam titles. Should he win on Sunday night, Federer will have claimed his 14th major trophy.

His run through the draw has been, for the most part, smooth, efficient, and a joy to watch. His only hiccup came against Tomas Berdych in the fourth round, but even that minor moment of frailty was overcome, and there was never really a fear that the great man might lose.

Where last year he was struggling with glandular fever and never really recovered from the training time lost over that off-season break, this year Federer is fit, strong and confident. As a guide to just how confident the Swiss is at the moment, just cast an eye over his record last year – only four tournament titles and not a Masters Series trophy in sight. This year, his goals are a little bigger.

“Starting the year well at Australian Open,” he said in that relaxed, matter-of-fact way of his when asked about his mindset at the start of the season, “winning maybe potentially your first French, getting Wimbledon back after the epic I had with Rafa there, and then winning my sixth at the US Open. That’s kind of what’s in my mind.

“And then with good play at the ATP events, at the Masters Series, which I didn’t play great last year in, I hope to pick up few of those to get my No. 1 ranking back. That’s my mindset going into a new season.”

Right, then, Rog, that would be pretty much the whole Australia Open Tennisyear taken care of - and the plan would be to win everything you can lay racquet string to.

The only slight flaw in this grand design is one Rafael Nadal, the man who made the Ominous One feel, variously, disappointed, resigned and miserable as sin on a regular basis last year.

Nadal’s run to the final in Melbourne has not been as smooth – and his five hour 14 minute epic with Fernando Verdasco on Friday night was a nail-biter from start to finish – but that hardly matters. Until he faced Verdasco, he had not dropped a set but, still, Gilles Simon had pushed him in the quarterfinal. But being in a Grand Slam final against Federer is what Nadal dreams of – and when he gets there, he usually wins.

So far, the world’s top two players have met 18 times, with Nadal winning 12. Of those, six matches were played in major finals – three on grass at Wimbledon and three on clay at Roland Garros – and Nadal has won all but two. Now they are lining up for a seventh time, matching the record set by Bill Tilden and William Johnston, who contested seven US Championship finals at the start of last century.

This is their first Grand Slam final on a hard court, and it is Nadal’s first Australian Open final, but whether that makes much of a difference is anyone’s guess. Rafa in full flight is a terrifying sight but, then again, Roger in his pomp is almost untouchable.

aust-open11Matches between Federer and Nadal are not so much played on clay or grass or Plexicushion but played between the ears. Nadal has, in the past, managed to get inside Federer’s head, to rattle the normally unflappable Swiss, and make him question his own greatness. If I come to the net, will he pick me off like a tin duck in a shooting gallery? If I stay back, will he blast me off the court? Nadal, meanwhile, simply puts his head down, plays the only, muscular way he knows how, and lets his opponent do the worrying.

Their last showdown was at Wimbledon when, in five rain-delayed sets, Nadal did the unthinkable and broke Federer’s stranglehold on the competition. For five years, the Swiss had been unstoppable in SW19 and then, in the near darkness, Nadal won - and Federer looked crushed. That loss stayed with Fed for a long, long time and could, in theory, have galvanised him for this coming final: Federer wants revenge. Still, if Federer were to find himself in a spot of bother on Sunday, the memory of losing his most beloved title could be just enough to sap his confidence.

So, history beckons for Federer, while world domination is calling out to Nadal. If frafawimbledonNadal wins here, he will hold the Wimbledon, French and Australian Open titles with the Olympic gold medal thrown in for good measure. Possibly the greatest player of all-time against the greatest player of the moment? Pick the bones out of that one.

The only certainty was that as Nadal sweated and roared his way to victory against Verdasco on Friday night, finishing at 1.07am on Saturday and after playing for five hours and 14 minutes, one very happy Swiss bloke was tucked up in bed, snoring quietly and grinning from ear to ear after a day of rest. Ominously, that extra day off may make all the difference when the history books are being rewritten.