Nadal wins the Battle

The King of Clay ruled in this oddest of matches between the two best players in tennis.

Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer 7-5 4-6 7-6 (10) in an exhibition on Wednesday on a half-grass, half-clay court when the top-ranked Swiss failed to reach a forehand that took a funny bounce across the green side.

“We’re used to playing long, hard games with a lot of tension involved,” Federer said. “So it’s fun to play on this half-grass, half-clay surface.”

Nadal came into the match with a record 72 straight wins on clay. Federer hasn’t lost on grass in four years – a 48-match run that includes four straight Wimbledon titles.

“It was a long match, with many changes of pace and with little time to adapt,” Nadal said. “My feet are suffering as a price of having to adapt to the grass.”

Federer was leading 4-1 in the tiebreaker before Nadal rallied. After the Spaniard double-faulted while ahead 6-5 the players traded match points. Nadal then hit three of the final four winners from the clay side before a sellout crowd of about 7,000.

The grass caused some tricky bounces, especially as the match progressed. But both players showed little difficulty in switching surfaces, as they changed shoes at changeovers.

Source: Hindustan Times

Darn it! Let me cry in peace!

Battle of the Surfaces

Date: May 2, 2007

Venue: Palma Arena

Occasion: Tennis match of the millennium!!!

OK, it’s just an exhibition match, a 1.2 million euro exhibition match. But what’s really great about it is that this match will be played on a dual-surface court.
The God of Grass, Roger Federer, and the King of Clay, Rafael Nadal will

play a best-of-three-sets match against each other on their own surfaces and on the others’.

At each change of ends they will have to change their shoes and possibly

even their rackets as one side of the court is grass and the other clay.

Who will win this one?  No one can really tell.

Nadal is the undisputed King of Clay having won his 72nd  straight match on the dirt on Sunday in Barcelona. He also defeated Federer in the Monte Carlo final a week earlier as well as in the French open final last year.

On grass, Federer holds the upper hand, having beaten the

Spaniard in the last Wimbledon final for a fourth straight win on the surface.

Now, who do I support? Federer all the way! He has even

got a stamp issued after him. He has those wonderful points

which will ensure he stays at his #1 position. He definitely is the

superior player.

GO ROGER!