It will be the 19th career meeting between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer when the top two players in the world square off in a dream final on Sunday night at the Australian Open. Nadal is dominating the head-to-head series 12-6, but eight of those wins have come on clay, Nadal’s favorite surface and Federer’s [...]
Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco set up an Australian Open semifinal clash between friends, compatriots, and Davis Cup teammates by winning their respective quarterfinal matches on Wednesday in Melbourne. Verdasco turned back 2008 Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in four sets, while Nadal dispatched Gilles Simon in three sets. It was not a routine three [...]
Two of the “Big 4” (Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic) are out of the Australian Open. Now Rafael Nadal will aim to make it a 50 percent success rate for the top four players in terms of reaching the semifinals. Only Gilles Simon stands in the way of the No. 1 player in the world. [...]
Can anyone stop Rafael Nadal? That question has been on people’s minds ever since Nadal struck his first ball against Christophe Rochus in the first round of the Australian Open. And that question only grows louder and louder by the day. Following a dismantling of Roko Karanusic and a three-set blowout of Tommy Haas in [...]
Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal a week prior to the event seemed to open the door for Roger Federer and Andy Murray to take the title. Instead, the 2008 Masters Cup turned out to be the most unpredictable one in years. The draw produced an incredibly tough red group with Federer, Murray, Andy Roddick, and Nadal’s replacement [...]
Say what you will about the integrity of it, but Novak Djokovic’s performance—or lack thereof—against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in round-robin player is the reason why he is in the Masters Cup title match. Already 2-0 and assured of a semifinal berth by the time he faced Tsonga, Djokovic did not need a win in order to [...]
Roger Federer’s loss is Gilles Simon’s gain. Federer fell to Andy Murray 4-6, 7-6(3), 7-5 on Friday in the final stage of round-robin play at the Masters Cup in Shanghai. The setback eliminated Federer from semifinal contention and gave Simon a spot in the last four. Heading into Friday, the semifinal scenarios for the red [...]
Before the Madrid Masters Tournament began, Rafa was quoted as saying that he wanted to win this one for his loyal Spanish fans. On paper he had an easy draw through to the final, no top 10 players to meet on the way. It should have been a piece of cake for him, but he lost [...]
