Nadal: No extra motivation
A fifth title, not revenge, is his goal
PARIS – All Rafael Nadal cares about is winning a fifth French Open championship.
Doesn’t matter how he’s played until now.
Doesn’t matter that he can regain the No. 1 ranking with one more victory.
And, the Spaniard insists, it certainly doesn’t matter to him one bit that in Sunday’s final he gets a chance to face the only man he’s lost to at Roland Garros, Sweden’s Robin Soderling. The tantalizing prospect of a Nadal-Soderling rematch with a Grand Slam title on the line is something for others to ponder.
“I never believe (in) revenge,” Nadal said after he and Soderling won their semifinals Friday. “I will be as happy or as disappointed if I lose to Robin or to any other player. I don’t think this is going to change the way I’ll approach the match.”
Perhaps that’s true. Still, there’s one key stat that won’t go away: Nadal boasts a 37-1 career record at the French Open, with Soderling responsible for the lone setback, upsetting the four-time champion in the fourth round a year ago en route to a runner-up finish.
“It’s always good to have beaten a player before. I know that I can beat him. I showed it,” said Soderling, who knocked off defending champion Roger Federer in the quarterfinals Tuesday. “But, again, every match is a new match, and every match is different.”
Friday’s two semifinals hardly could have contrasted more.
First came the No. 5-seeded Soderling’s grueling, serve-it-and-slug-it victory over No. 15 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, a 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 test that required 3 1/2 hours. Then came the No. 2-seeded Nadal’s far-less-competitive 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (6) win over No. 22 Jurgen Melzer of Austria.
With the sun shining, and the temperature climbing above 80 degrees, the 6-foot-4 Soderling and the 6-foot-5 Berdych traded big, quick shots. They have similar games, relying mainly on powerful serves – Berdych pounded 21 aces, Soderling 18 – and forehands that zip through the air.
Both were troubled by double-faults at important moments, including Berdych’s on a break point that put Soderling ahead 4-2. It was only the sixth game of a match that would contain 48, yet Berdych called that the closest thing to a turning point.
That assessment seems a tad odd, given that Berdych came back to win the next two sets, when Soderling’s strokes went awry and he made nearly half his 63 unforced errors.
Nadal would love to forget last year – and not just because of his loss to Soderling. In addition to failing to regain the French Open title, Nadal went through tendinitis in his knees, a problem that limited his movement against Soderling in Paris.
“I was very happy with the win and my run here last year. I still am,” Soderling said. “It doesn’t matter who I played or who I beat – or if he was injured or not.”
Nevertheless, those knees forced Nadal to withdraw from Wimbledon instead of defending his championship there. And then he ceded the No. 1 ranking to Federer, who will give it back if Nadal wins Sunday.
Most bothersome of all was what happened off the court in 2009: Nadal’s parents separated.
“Last year,” said Toni Nadal, Rafael’s uncle and coach, “was very difficult for us.”
The younger Nadal has won all 21 clay-court matches he’s played this season, and all 18 sets he’s played at this French Open. If can win again Sunday, he will join Bjorn Borg as the only men with at least five titles at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament. Borg won a record six.