Monte Carlo Master Series

It hasn’t been very often that the numbers 1 and 2 players in the world confront each other in the final of the Monte Carlo event. The last time was 1985 when Ivan Lendl defeated Mats Wilander. Twenty-one years later, the fans at the Monte Carlo Country Club were treated to an excellent final between the world’s two best players, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, with Nadal prevailing in 4 sets, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 7-6.

The young man from Mallorca has been dubbed the King of Clay for his current 42 match win streak on the surface, and a victory over the world’s number 1, a man who had lost only once previously this year, further solidifies him as the man to beat for the French Championships at Roland Garros. Nadal’s goal coming into Monte Carlo was to reach the final and prove that he was playing well on clay since injury forced him to miss the start of this season. He achieved his goal and more. Beating Federer for the fourth time in five attempts cements his place in the game as Roger’s nemesis, and sends a message to the rest of the tour that no one can beat him on clay.

Prior to this year, Federer had never advanced beyond the quarterfinals of this event and therefore his goals for Monte Carlo were modest: play well, get used to playing on clay, and try to reach the final. Certainly, Roger can come away from today’s final saying “mission accomplished” as he was brilliant in his quarterfinal and semifinal victories, but one has to believe that he is disappointed with losing to the Spaniard a third consecutive time, including twice in ’06.

However, it’s obvious that the Swiss treats each encounter with Nadal as a learning experience. Coming into the final, he felt that he had learned a few things in their encounter in Dubai that he could use in today’s match to his advantage. While that didn’t pan out, after today’s match, he spoke again about how he feels he is learning the intricacies of Rafa’s game and how to adjust to that game. Not only is Federer the most brilliant shot maker on the tour, he might also be the best tactician. The question for him is can he execute a Nadal specific game plan well enough to win the French?

While watching today’s final, it occurred to me that very few players have the confidence to beat these two men, and in a sport like tennis, confidence is an extremely important factor in winning. In fact, without confidence, you simply can’t win. Based on that, I fully expect to see another Federer – Nadal final this June in Paris for the second Grand Slam of the year.

Match Thoughts

I joined the match a little late this morning as I overslept by about 30 minutes, and it was 5-2 for Nadal in the first set when I turned on the television. I was quickly able to ascertain that Federer was making a lot of unforced errors and that was making Nadal’s task much easier than expected. He comfortably served out the set for 6-2.

In the second, Federer’s game started to come back to him especially late in the set. Nadal served for the second set at 5-4 and even held a set point, but Federer was able to pressure Nadal enough to earn the crucial break of serve and even the set at 5. The sways in momentum and confidence were clearly visible to those watching. Each player held serve and brought the set to a tie-breaker where Federer was dominant throughout and evened up the match at a set apiece. Roger had to be pleased that the match was level after he was down a set and a break at 4-5 in the second.

The third set began with slight controversy as Nadal called for the trainer to reapply tape to his blistered fingers. Our match announcers noted that Nadal’s action was certainly within the rules, but that it was clearly a momentum breaker for Federer. However, to be fair to Nadal, it would have been very difficult for him to re-tape his fingers on his own within the allotted time of a changeover, so I don’t think the injury time-out was necessarily an abuse of the rule. Once play resumed, it appeared that Federer’s shots were off the mark again and Nadal was able to establish a dominant position in the set. Nadal survived break points at 3-all in the third and then managed to break Federer for a 5-3 lead. There would be no nerves on the part of the young Mallorcan this time and he served out the set for a 6-3 win.

Nadal extended his game-winning streak to six as he jumped to a 3-0 lead in the fourth set, but Federer was by no means finished. He managed to get the 2 breaks of serve back and evened the set at 5. As in the second set, each player held and the set would be decided in another tie-breaker. Federer jumped to a quick 3-0 lead by winning Nadal’s first two service points, and it appeared that a fifth set was inevitable. However, the 19 year-old struck right back and stole Federer’s two service points to bring the score to 3-2. Eventually the score reached 5-all and Nadal clearly decided that it was time to go for the win. He hit a screaming backhand up the line to take himself to match point and he then pounded a massive forehand into Federer’s backhand to win the set and the match.

Overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable match to watch with some brilliant shot making on both sides of the net. The foot speed of the protagonists was also quite impressive as each man was forced to go corner-to-corner as well as chase down multiple drop shots. In the end, the statistics told a compelling story. Federer made 78 errors on the day and his winner to error ratio was –13. Those numbers weren’t totally unexpected as Federer was usually the more aggressive player, but 78 errors were too much. Over 50% of the Spaniard’s points were won as a result of Federer errors. Nadal’s winner to error ratio was +5 which is somewhat remarkable in a match of this length.

The next ATP Masters Series event is in Rome and Nadal is the defending champion at the Foro Italico by virtue of his 5 hour 14 minute victory over Guillermo Coria. Don’t be surprised if we see the numbers 1 and 2 go at it again in Italy.