PETE ZIEBRON in CINCINNATI
Roger Federer powers his way to victory against Tommy Haas. Pete Ziebron Images
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will resume their historic rivalry tonight in the quarterfinals at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. The match will be the 31st time they will meet, with Nadal holding a commanding 20-10 advantage in their head-to-head matchups.
The highly anticipated battle later today at the Cincinnati Masters was in serious jeopardy as both Federer and Nadal were pushed to 3 sets yesterday. Federer fought back tenaciously from a 1-6 1-3 deficit against his very good friend Tommy Haas and ultimately prevailed 1-6 7-5 6-3 to advance to the quarters. Nadal was up a set and a break and in command of his match against rising ATP star Grigor Dimitrov. However, Dimitrov, as he had in their previous two meetings, won the 2nd set to take the match to a deciding set. Nadal once again found his groove with an early break and would break yet again later in the final set to take the match 6-2 5-7 6-2 to set up the quarterfinal against Federer.
Rafael Nadal has high praise for Roger Federer and calls their matches special. Pete Ziebron Images
In his pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday, I asked Nadal whom he most enjoyed playing during his entire career. He took a moment to contemplate the question and specifically singled out Roger Federer in his response:
"I think matches against Roger always was special feelings of that. We played all of the important matches for our careers, and combination of styles makes the match interesting. One player finding one thing, another one trying to find solutions to not let him play as he was.
And it's a little bit more strategic match. And playing for big titles, that match made me feel very special every time."
Once the quarterfinal against Federer was confirmed following his victory over Dimitrov yesterday, Nadal again had high praise for Federer as well as for their history when they compete against one another:
"Tomorrow will be another match against a great player, probably the best in history, and if I am not 100% ready to fight every ball and to make the right decisions in the right moments, I will not have chances to win.
So I have to be ready to keep playing aggressive but making the right decisions in every moment."
"Always play against Roger is a special feeling. We have a great history behind us in our confrontations, so it's not another quarterfinals. It's a special one because you're playing against a very special player. Our matches were very special always.
But, again, it's a quarterfinals match, not the final, so that's a big difference."
Roger Federer's pre-tournament press conference was held last Saturday and I also asked him whom he enjoyed playing the most throughout his career. His reply mentioned Rafael Nadal but others as well:
"That's a tough question. I have to break it into time periods. At first it was playing against the guys that I watched on TV growing up, (Andre) Agassi and Pete Sampras. Then it was (Lleyton) Hewitt, (Andy) Roddick, (Marat) Safin and (Juan Carlos) Ferrero. Then it was Rafa (Nadal) and now it would be the top four (Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal).
Following his victory over Tommy Haas yesterday, Federer was asked about a potential quarterfinal match against Nadal and had high praise for Nadal and his efforts this year:
"For him (Nadal) has been unbelievable, how he came back and how successful he's played, almost always achieving finals really.
So it's a great season for him. He's coming into this tournament clearly very confident. I'll be excited to see how he plays tonight. Then if I play him tomorrow, it's clearly going to be a difficult match because he comes in with a lot of confidence again."
Roger Federer - Rafael Nadal XXXI gets underway at 7 PM tonight on Center Court at the Western & Southern Open. "One player finding one thing, another one trying to find solutions to not let him play as he was" is how Nadal described how he and Federer go after each other. The 11,400 ticket holders in Cincinnati as well as an enormous world wide television audience will have yet another opportunity to watch two of the greates tennis players of all time compete against one another. Advantage: tennis aficionados and casual sport fans everywhere.
Comments