The 2011 Australian Open: The Last Frontier for Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: January 4, 2011

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With the dawning of the 2011 tennis season, comes the opportunity for many things.

Rafael Nadal has the opportunity to finally set himself apart from rival Roger Federer, by pulling off a win at the season’s opening Grand Slam at the Australian Open.

For years, despite Nadal’s own lofty achievements, whether justly or unjustly, Nadal has always been mentioned in the context of Roger Federer. To the Swiss’ credit, he does have 16 Grand Slam titles, a number tough to overshadow. But Nadal, who himself has compiled 9 slams of his own, and completed a career golden slam at age 24 (a notoriety which Federer is still seeking), stands on the verge of a truly historic accomplishment.

Nadal has the opportunity to become the first male tennis player ever to win four consecutive Grand Slam Singles titles on four different surfaces. Andre Agassi fell short by a single match from Roland Garros 1999 to the Australian Open 2000, losing only the Wimbledon Final. More recently Roger Federer fell just short of a calendar Slam in 2006 and 2007, losing the French Open Final on both occasions. While Rod Laver earned the unique distinction of winning two calendar slams, three of the four Majors were played on grass and the other on clay.

Part of the remarkable nature of the modern feat would be the fact that now two of the four Majors are played on hard courts, a surface which is much more grueling on the body. Indeed, it takes a very special player and a very unique mental outlook to accomplish such a feat. A second Australian Open title would mark Nadal’s third hard court Grand Slam Singles title, relegating claims of his being a mere clay court specialist to the realm of stupidity. It would also put him in a context of his own, in the realm of accomplishment not shared with Roger Federer.  Nadal would stand by himself, and force the public to accept that we are, and have been since 2008 living in the Nadal Er...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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