Federer Clinches his fourth Hamburg Masters Title, Beating the King of Clay
Posted by Leosash on May 22nd, 2007
Before playing Nadal in the second round of the Rome Masters, Daniele Bracciali’s team asked Federer to suggest how Nadal could be tackled on clay. Federer’s suggestion was simple- play a super-offensive game and it might pay dividends. While Bracciali did play an aggressive brand of tennis, he could not manage to dent Nadal’s reputation on clay. As for Federer, it appears like he has finally found the recipe for beating Nadal on clay, after coming agonizingly close on a couple of previous occasions. He finally ended Nadal’s 81-match streak on clay, beating the Spaniard 2-6,6-2,6-0 in the Hamburg Masters final.
Federer has always played well in Hamburg, the last major tune-up for the French Open. This year he won the title by beating five clay-court fanatics – Juan Monaco, Ferrero, Ferrer, Moya and Nadal – and his only straight set victory was over the 2003 French Open Champion Juan Carlos Ferrero. As for Nadal, he seemed to have run out of steam against Federer, especially in the decider of the final. Rafa’s punishing forehand was missing the lines often and he was making way too many errors. Federer on his part was pushing him way behind the baseline during many points and Nadal ran out of answers to Federer’s relentless attacking and forays to the net.
Next Stop: Paris
While both players did not seek to read too much into the result, it did succeed in strengthening Federer’s locus standi as Nadal’s strongest rival for the French Open title. Federer’s first title on clay in almost two years comes at a crucial time for the Swiss World No.1. He has split from his coach Tony Roche and has decided to go into the coming two grand slams without a coach and it appears that the decision is not after all a bad one!
Nadal on the other hand goes to Paris, without the pressure of having to extend his clay-court streak. He would however have a shot at becoming the first player since Bjorn Borg to win three successive French Open titles. To know if he is able to achieve the feat, his fans and the whole tennis world have to wait till the evening of June 10th to find out. That day another question could also be partially answered – Is Federer going to win his Calendar Slam this year?