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Friday, March 29, 2024

‘I think Rafael Nadal hasn’t left top-10 in the past…’, says former star

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Rafael Nadal became world number 2 behind Roger Federer in 2005, improving his game regularly and challenging a great opponent. Between Miami 2004 and Roland Garros 2006, Rafa dropped Roger in six of seven meetings. The Spaniard notched four notable wins over the Swiss in the first half of 2006, before Roger bounced back at Wimbledon and the ATP Finals.

In the season-closing semi-final in Shanghai, the top two players in the world were the opponents, with Federer the favorite on an indoor hard court. Rafa made his ATP Finals debut that year, having missed the event in 2005 due to a foot injury and reached the semifinal after beating Tommy Robredo and Nikolay Davydenko.

Federer struggled a bit in his group, but he scored all three victories in the round of 16 stage, so he hopes to repeat the same against the Spaniard. Meeting for the ninth time, Federer defeated Nadal 6-4 7-5 in one hour and 53 minutes, becoming the first player since Ivan Lendl with four consecutive ATP Finals titles.

Roger won ten more points than Rafa, dominating with his first serve and facing only two break opportunities. Nadal converted one, but that wasn’t enough to keep him safe. The Spaniard missed 40% of his initial shots and suffered three breaks out of 11 chances offered to the Swiss.

Roger had the advantage in the shorter and mid-range exchanges. He kept pace with Rafa in later rallies to seal the deal in straight sets and advance to the title match against James Blake. Federer held at 15 in the first game of the match when Nadal conceded a backhand into the net and landed a forehand winner in the second game to earn an early break.

The former champion forced a mistake from the youngster to clinch the third game and carve out a massive lead after just ten minutes.

Lapentti talks about Nadal

In the same podcast, Nicolas Lapentti also mentioned his first encounter with a young and tenacious 17-year-old Rafael Nadal in 2003.

“Nadal has this thing that he’s just the best at competing. Every single point, every single week for the past 20 years. It’s 20 years. I played Rafa in 2003, ok? In Bastad. The first time we played, Rafa was 17.

I beat him 7-6 in the third (set). I saved four match points. He was this giant kid, baby face, huge arms fighting like a bull,” he remembered. “So that’s already almost 20 years ago. I mean, he’s been 20 years on tour.

So, that’s the thing that amazes me the most. Is Alcaraz going to be able to stay 10 years on top? Rafa, I think Rafa hasn’t left top-10 in the past 20 years or something. I mean, It’s just crazy,” he expressed.

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