Close-Up on the Men’s Semis

Coverage

2010

Madrid Open

Sunday, 16 May 2010 08:03

Close-Up on the Men’s Semis

Written by Elisa Tormes

Madrid Not an Exception
Three Spaniards have reached a Masters 1000 semifinal for the third time in a row. And each has been the first time one of them has reached that stage: Fernando Verdasco in Monte Carlo, David Ferrer in Rome and Nicolás Almagro in Madrid. So, we started this semifinal day, with Rafael Nadal facing one of his countrymen in Almagro.


Perfect Head-to-Heads
Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer both entered their semifinal matches with a perfect head-to-head record against their respective opponents, Almagro and Ferrer. Nadal – Almagro was far from a routine win for Nadal, who lost the first set, suffering the aggressive and almost flawless game of Almagro. Yet Nadal was able to raise his game, going from a level of 51-percent first serves in the first set to 80-percent in the third. Nadal prevailed by winning the last two sets, 6-2 and 6-2. As the top Spaniard explained later, “He [Almagro] did not frighten me[just this] once. He has been playing very well, the court conditions play to his favour because of the altitude. It’s difficult to return his serve, rallies are difficult against him.” Nadal also explained why he struggled with his serve during the first set, “Well, the serve has been working very well for me except for today. I started serving really, really terribly. Perhaps because I was nervous, because of the tension; he attacked straight away and that that made me serve worse.” He also gave away his simple secret to serving, “As regards to the technique, I do what I can. I´m serious, I´m not joking.”

Almagro should be happy with his performance at this tournament and, as he explained, “I think it’s a positive [assessment]. I’ve played at a very high level throughout the week. I’ve managed to make it beyond the quarterfinals of a Masters 1000 for the first time. I’ve pushed the best clay court player in the world to the limits of his game; it was my first semifinal and it was here at home. There are a lot of positive things about it all. I have to keep on working and doing things like I’ve been doing and hopefully I’ll be able to repeat it and improve on my results.”

Roger Federer (far end) had to push hard to overcome David Ferrer's return game

Roger Federer was not going to disappoint his fans either, as he beat David Ferrer once again, in spite of the huge crowd support for the Spaniard. This match also went the distance and both men delighted the home crowd with some of the best tennis seen during this tournament. As Federer reflected, “Yeah, I think I served really well. In the first set, some of my best serving in a long time, maybe just clutch serving when I needed to […]. I knew on clay I was always going to go through a tougher period as well. That’s what happened in the second set […] and he took advantage of that and it just shows what a tough competitor he is. One of the great return players in the game on the second serve… He doesn’t miss much and he fights like crazy and it works well.” He continued, “So I knew the danger and I’m extremely happy that I prevailed.”

Ferrer didn’t see the match as positively and gave his own analysis of what happened. “But I didn’t think it was all that close. He had many more opportunities than I did. He had more options against my serve, but I couldn’t do much against his. He served very well throughout the whole match. Roger has a lot of resources; he hung in there in the end. In the break game, he played well and changed pace and that was the key.”

With this win, Nadal has found himself back at the No. 2 spot of the ATP rankings. With one more win, he would become the first player in the Open Era to sweep all Masters tournaments in the clay court season and would take the top place in total number of Masters shields with eighteen. On the other hand, if Federer prevails in the final, he will be the first player to defend a title in Madrid and would tie Nadal and Agassi in number of Masters tournaments won, at seventeen.

Serena Williams practices yesterday before teaming up with sister Venus to take the Women's Doubles title

Nadal vs Federer Version 21

One year after the two faced in a final here, we are getting to ready to see yet another Roger Federer - Rafael Nadal match; they’ll face each other for the 21st time. Although the head-to-head favors Nadal, especially on clay, where he is 9-2 against Federer, they split the last four big tournaments played on this surface, with Nadal taking the last Rome and Monte Carlo Masters shields and Federer being the defending Madrid and French Open Champion.

Nadal declared Federer to be the favorite here: “I think the conditions here for him are perfect because he can win a lot of free points with the serve, with the forehand, with his first shot, so it is a perfect court for him. I think he is the favorite for this tournament on this clay court.” Federer thinks that, “we both know we have a chance regardless of the surface.” The World No. 1 continued, “… we haven’t played in a year, so maybe some things have been forgotten and other things you realize very quickly what is better to do and what not. I´m excited.”

Soccer League

At the same time Nadal and Federer will battle for the Championship, soccer teams Real Madrid and Barcelona will play for the Spanish league title. Nadal, a big Real Madrid fan was not really happy and interrupted one of his responses during the media conference to request an explanation about this from Tournament Director Manolo Santana, who explained that “We reached agreements with TV companies in different countries; over 150 countries are broadcasting the match live, so we chose this date and nobody could have thought the league match would be played between Madrid and Barcelona at the same time.”

The crowd enjoyed the heat of the matches, including during Almagro vs Nadal, but not the varying temperatures in the stadium

Coats On – Coats Off

There is saying in Spanish, “Hasta el 40 de mayo no te quites el sayo,” which literally means, “Don’t get rid of your coat until May 40^th.” And this year again is not an exception. Where and when the sun was hitting, it was nice and warm. And when in the shade, you really had to wear your coat, and your gloves, and you scarf… The differences in temperature yesterday were extreme, as people sitting in the sun were wearing just t-shirts, and those of us in the shade could not stop shivering in spite of ten layers of clothing. This was not as bad as on some previous days, though. During the Federer- Gulbis match, for example, the most popular crowd chants were. ‘Shut the door’ and ‘Close the Box, Manolo’ in reference to the La Caja Mágica (“The Magic Box”) complex and Santana the Tournament Director.

Heading to La Caja Mágica for the finals, I’m packing again coat, gloves, and a blanket even if the day seems sunny. Who knows what it’ll be like in a few hours in that Magic Box.

More photos from Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open 2010

Photos: Elisa Tormes

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