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How Will Rafael Nadal Now Fare On British Grass?

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Rafael Nadal proved to be invincible on the French clay but how will he fare on the British grass?

The freshly-crowned 10-time Roland Garros champion was to get his first taste of grass at the Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club in London. The event, which runs June 19-26, is one of the most prestigious events in tennis, and the most regarded grass-court title other than Wimbledon. However, Nadal withdrew from the event two days after his win at Roland Garros, stating, “After speaking to my team and doctor, I have decided my body needs to rest if I am going to be ready to play Wimbledon.”

Nadal will now have a three weeks off to rest after his ferocious run through seven straight-set wins en route to the title in Paris. The Spaniard has traditionally placed the bulk of his efforts into the clay court season, from April until June, where his productivity declines in the last six months of the year, when play is on faster services.

However, Nadal has won four career titles on grass – two at Wimbledon in 2008 and 2010, the Queen’s title in 2008 and also in Stuttgart in 2015.

Success at Queens has translated into success at Wimbledon as seven different players have completed The Queen’s Club-Wimbledon title double in the same year, including Nadal in 2008, and also John McEnroe (1981, ’84), Jimmy Connors (’82), Boris Becker (’85), Pete Sampras (’95, ’99), Lleyton Hewitt (2002) and Andy Murray (2013).

The top-ranked Murray, the defending Queens and Wimbledon champions, will be the favorite to win the title again. Last year, Murray became the first player to win five Queen’s Club titles when he defeated Milos Raonic in the final.

Murray has struggled of late, but left the French Open in a positive frame of mind with a semifinal finish, falling to Stan Wawrinka in five sets, failing to put away the Swiss in a fourth-set tiebreaker that would have put him into the final in Paris for the second-straight year.

Murray will be tested by an extremely talented field that also includes Wawrinka, who has enlisted former Pete Sampras and Roger Federer coach Paul Annacone to help him with his grass-court preparations for Wimbledon, the only major tournament he hasn’t won. Remember that both Federer and Sampras have won Wimbledon seven times each!

The hard-serving Raonic, who also lost in last year’s Wimbledon final to Murray, will also be a contender in the Queens field as well as the talented and hot-headed Nick Kyrgios and Grigor Dimitrov, a former Wimbledon semifinalist.

Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal

The Best Live Match Ever

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by James A. Crabtree
I was talking with a fellow tennis fanatic the other day and the conversation shifted to the best live match we had ever seen. The fellow fanatic in question has rather deep pockets and could recount epics played throughout the world and the great corporate seats they had and blah blah blah. Well, enough about them, they were rather annoying.
I am not going to get snobby and say “You had to physically be there.” That is absurd and unfair to those of us with mortal salaries.
And by no means does this epic matchup have to be a final.
You simply have had to watch the match live, been engrossed in it, unable to draw yourself away from the drama that unfolded in front of your eyes..
Andy Roddick versus Roger Federer, 2009 Wimbledon Final

Tough call here because the Federer versus Nadal epics in 2007 and 2008 were pretty special. But the choice goes to this five setter simply because, like many, I started the match cheering for Roger and finished going for Andy. Fed, at the time, was going for his fifteenth slam which would make him the most successful player in history, and Andy has had to bear witness to every slam in Fed’s career. But on this day Andy Roddick really looked like he could it. He was a set up, then 6-2 in the second set tie break, but Federer levelled it. Roddick lost the third but rebounded in the fourth. The thirty game fifth set, well that’s just part of Wimbledon lore. Do I really need to mention that Federer won it?
Stephen Edberg versus Michael Chang, 1989 Roland Garros Final
This was an absolute heartbreaker, especially if you were a diehard Edberg fan. Anyway, the gentleman Swede was attempting to become one of only a handful of true volleyers to pick up the title. In the fifth set he was a break up and looked like he would serve and volley his way into destiny, on clay. Unfortunately for Edberg fans he was up against a seventeen year upstart who had famously underarmed served in the fourth round against Lendl, the world number one. Michael Chang, with destiny on his side, took the title and secured his place as the youngest ever grand slam winner.
Rafael Nadal versus Novak Djokovic, 2012 Australian Open final

This epic final knocks out of the list the 2009 Verdasco/Nadal semi-final. Although still a very recent memory the relentless fight these two players showed proved why they will be remembered as legends in a match that lasted twice as long as Lord of The Rings. Let’s remember both players were coming off emotional wins, Rafa over Roger and Novak over Andy. The final included some of the most gruelling baseline hitting in recent memory, Nadal falling to his knees in jubilation after winning the fourth set and Djokovic’s infamous Hulk inspired shirt rip after his victory. Most of Melbourne awoke after this match with a very painful tennis hangover.

Boris Becker versus Johan Kriek, 1985 Queen’s Club Championships
Little can be said for the quality of the tennis as I simply don’t remember because I was only five years old at the time, but this was my first ever tennis match. I do remember it being very hot, and standing with my parents in line for the bar behind the biggest and most ginger human in the world.

This list did take a lot of deep thought, with so many games to recollect. The 2012 Aussie Open Marco Baghdatis versus Stan Wawrinka racquet smash bonanza was one of the most intriguing matches I’ve ever seen and now rewritten as a Greek tragedy. Brad Gilbert versus David Wheaton at Wimbledon 1990 was a strategical masterpeice. It is easy to recall the Sampras and Agassi bouts, Henman near misses, Davis Cup upsets including Lleyton’s 2003 two set down comeback against Federer. But the battles royale that take precedence within the memory banks cannot be dislodged.