The Healthy Scratch

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For the 1st time since the late 90s, the tennis world finally has a rivalry at the top of its sport. Rafael Nadal’s breakthrough on grass over these past two weeks has cemented his status as a contender to Roger Federer’s place at the top of the ranking. Since the great Agassi-Sampras rivalry, tennis has been without a great matchup that can draw mainstream attention, Nadal-Federer is about to hit that level.

Prior to this week Nadal could be discounted as another of the countless clay court specialists who’ve appeared over the years. Players like Carlos Moya or Alberto Costa have all appeared unbeatable on the clay courts only to disappear once the grass and hardcourt season begins. Nadal’s march to the Wimbledon final has moved him beyond that status and into the realm of the game’s top players.

Does Nadal stand a chance against Federer tomorrow? A lot has been made of Nadal’s success against Federer in past matchup, but the vast majority of those games have been on clay. Federer has amassed a 57-11 record on grass over his career and has hasn’t lost of the surface since 2002, winning 47 straight games on the surface. Nadal on the other hand, has only played in 15 matches on grass in his career and before this year had rarely played on the surface. It’s doubtful his baseline game will be able to withstand Federer’s all around approach on this surface, but Nadal has proven to have a few surprises up his capri shorts at this tourney.

Federer will go into this match as an overwhelming favourite, but you can bet they’ll be a lot of television tuned to this battle come Sunday morning. No matter who wins the championship, the sport of tennis will be the big winner. How can you not be excited to see this matchup.

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