UTP’s Sports Blog

Nadal - Invincible on CLAY

Rafael Nadal is proving to be pretty much AUTOMATIC when it comes to Tennis on Clay. When he beat Federer at Hamburg a few weeks before the French Open, the stats read Nadal 102 out of 104 won on clay. Now that’s what you call automatic.

He has continued his class on clay in the French Open at Paris and is just running over his opponents. Nobody has an answer for him at the moment. He beat Jarkko Nieminen 6-1 6-3 6-1. The score looks tough but trust me, it was even worse than that. Nieminen couldn’t get his act going while Nadal wouldn’t stop his strong cross-court forehands. It was picture perfect.

Honestly speaking, tennis has got a bit boring with the recent dominance of Federer and Nadal and could really use some spice with a few upsets. Even if Federer comes good here and finds a way to beat Nadal, I wouldn’t say Tennis has changed. We need some new blood to take over.

Without taking away anything from the 2 current champions. I would say Sampras was a better champion just because he had competition from No.2 to No.15 all year round. There were a more talented variety of players than today’s era.

For example, I can’t put my fingers on the big serve of today other than Federer himself at times. I can’t put my fingers on the best return-on-serve other than Nadal and Federer today. Best clay-court player is Nadal. Its just seems, tennis is revolving around these two names.

Anyway, this post was supposed to be on Nadal. He is keeping fit, keeping strong and constantly letting Federer and the world know who is boss on clay. I would be surprised if he doesn’t win the French open for the 4th straight year matching Bjorn Borg.

By the way, he has never lost in Paris. He is 24 of 24 in his matches at the French Open. Impressive isn’t it.