Rafael Nadal easily took the Rogers Cup today leaving many to wonder how long before he also takes Rogers No. 1 ranking. Nadal played his usual high standard of tennis that forced many errors out of surprise finalist Nicolas Kiefer of Germany. The final score was 6-3, 6-2. While fans were no doubt hoping for three tight sets, the reality of the situation is that Nadal finds himself in a class of his own and Kiefer is not the one to challenge that status. Other than Roger Federer or perhaps Novak Djokovic, there is nobody at the moment to give Nadal’s game much opposition.
The match went pretty much according to how it was expected to go. Nadal took two breaks in each set from Kiefer who himself could not convert on a single one. It was at 2-2 in the second set where Kiefer would finally have several attempts at breaking Nadal. The game went back and forth with each player having several advantages. In the end it was Nadal who would prevail and he never looked back from that point on. He would finish with 14 winners to 15 errors, while the more telling stat would be Kiefer with 17 winners and 31 errors. Those errors were often the result of the immense pressure a player of Nadal’s stature would put on his game.
In the second set, with Kiefer serving at 2-3 he hit two double faults in a row to allow Nadal back into the game at 30-30. He then badly mis-hit a ball about thirty feet in the air that eventually landed out. At 30-40 Rafa hit a monster forehand that Kiefer could barely even touch with his racquet to get the break.
Later when Kiefer was serving at 2-5 to stay in the match, Nadal would not budge. Some players might have played a little looser knowing they would be able to then serve it out. Not a champion like Nadal though, he battled as fiercely as ever. At 30-30 Kiefer would bury a routine forehand into the middle of the net. Then needing only one championship point, Nadal would launch another big forehand that Kiefer somehow managed to return with a desperate lob. Nadal had plenty of time to wait for the ball to fall back to earth and crushed it with an overhead to take the match and the championship.
After the match Nadal was his usual low key self when asked for the hundreth time about the potential to takeover the number one ranking.
“I repeat, no? For me No. 2 was very important, and I was very happy be the No. 2. Because with my titles, with my points in a normal situation I, well, would have been No. 1 before.”
Speaking of how tough it is to win a Masters Series event, he replied, “Every tournament is very difficult, no? I won here in Canada in 2005, so win title here is very, very important for me, no? Especially because this year. I didn’t won a tournament yet on hard. Right now I have five titles in a row in three different surfaces, so that’s very, very good for me, no?”
In his on court interview after the match Kiefer praised Nadal as the next number one. A statement that is impossible to argue with at the moment. All eyes will now shift to Cincinnati to see if the torch is ready to be passed.
