Rafael Nadal, currently the world's No.1 tennis player, is another world's best athlete. Like Tiger Woods, Nadal is the reason to watch tennis. The muscular Spaniard is considered as the best player physically, and in my opinion, he is also the strongest mentally at his age. You can see from his previous games with former world No.1 Roger Federer where Nadal always outclassed Federer in 5 set games lasting more than 4 hour!
In the Australian Open, the first major tournament of the year, Nadal needed 4 hours and 23 minutes to beat Federer in the final 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-2. This is the first time that Nadal won a major championship on hard court. At only 22, the world No.1 now owns six major titles. Nadal shows few signs of fatigue after his marathon win over Fernando Verdasco in the semifinal. The Spaniards encounter in the semifinal lasted 5 hours and 4 minutes, the longest match in the tournament's history. With the Australian Open title in hand, Nadal's chance to capture the Gram Slam singles record looks promising.
Nadal is undeniably the world's best player on clay. Last year, he won the fourth consecutive French Open titles, beating Federer in the final 6-1, 6-3, 6-0! Nadal became only the second man to win four consecutive French Open titles. And Nadal became the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win the tournament without dropping a set. Other statistics that underscore Nadal's dominance on clay: He's 22-1 in clay-court finals, and 41-0 in best-of-five matches on clay. My bet is on Nadal to win his fifth consecutive French Open titles in 2009 and eclipse the record of Borg.
Nadal won the Wimbledon Open in 2008, beating Federer in a dramatic rain-interrupted match 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (8-10), 9-7. With the result, Nadal prevented Federer from winning his sixth consecutive Wimbledon titles. Nadal became the first man since Borg in 1980 to win the French Open and Wimbledon titles back-to-back. Nadal needs to improve in this surface this year or else it would be tough to defend his Wimbledon title.
The only major title missing from Nadal's collections is the US Open. Neverthless, Nadal has made good progress in the US Open by reaching the semifinal for the first time last year. The Spaniard almost made it into the final only to lost to Andy Murray 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-4 in a match that lasted two days after being halted by rain in the third set. All being told, the US Open would be the most challenging tournament for Nadal to complete his Grand Slam in 2009.
Can Nadal wins the Grand Slam in 2009? It would be a difficult feat, but if Nadal can maintain his great run in 2009, I place my bet on him. To recap, Nadal won the Australian Open and Indian Wells this year, the two biggest titles this season.
Grand Slam of Tennis
- Australian Open
- French Open
- Wimbledon Open
- US Open
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