French Open 2011: Rafael Nadal Wins and Reaches Two More Milestones as a Bonus

It was to be the match of all matches...

World No. 1, Rafael Nadal faced off against World No. 3, Roger Federer. The 25-year-old Nadal looked to achieve what only one other tennis great, Bjorn Borg, had done—win a record six French Open titles. Federer, the older man on the court at a young 29 years old, was coming off a great victory over the previously undefeated Novak Djokovic. The atmosphere around Roland Garros, and everywhere for that matter, was buzzing with chatter as to which one of these tennis giants would walk away with the championship.

The first set opened, and Federer came out playing like the champion that he is. At just the second point of the set, with Nadal serving, Federer was able to break him to go up 2-0. Federer followed this with a first serve ace to go up 3-0. Nadal seemed to be having difficulty. Federer continued to play well, with Nadal doing his best to stay alive.

Before long, Federer had a break point that coincidentally was also a set point. OK, everyone, we are talking about Rafa Nadal. He’s never to be counted out because he is simply just that gifted at playing the game of tennis.

The tide turned in Nadal’s favor, and he erased the opportunities that Roger did not capitalize on and went on to win the first set, 7-5.

The second set rolled around, and similar to the first set, it had you on the edge of your seat. These men continued to play toe-to-toe. The lead went back and forth between the two as each had break point opportunities, but the other would erase them.

Eventually, the score came down to set point for Nadal, and the rain started. What a time for the rain to come down! There was a momentary delay as the men were rushed inside to wait for the rain to subside. In no time at all, Nadal and Federer were back on the court. Nadal hoping to add another set to his win column, and Federer to keep himself viable in his desire to just maybe pull off the win.

Federer was able to erase Nadal’s set point opportunity. However, Nadal was not giving up so easily. Nadal evened things up, forcing a tiebreaker. Federer gave it his all, but Nadal basically owned the tiebreaker. At 5-2, advantage Nadal, Federer expressed a little frustration, kicking up a little dust from the clay court with his foot. Nadal won the tiebreaker, 7-3. He was a little closer to the title and adding to his history-making career.

With the pressure on to stay alive in the case of Federer and the pressure/desire to end the match in the case of Nadal, both men were digging deep to execute their best tennis. In the beginning, both stayed on serve. However, the back-and-forth with break points began as the men worked hard to win the set. Eventually, Federer was able to prevail, 7-5.   

And so, the fourth set began. Once again and more so, the pressure was on Federer to stay alive. Federer was hot at the beginning, starting out with a double break point opportunity, but Nadal was not allowing that. He erased Federer’s two chances and stayed on serve, 1-0. As I think about the play of this set, it was almost symbolic of how the match would go.

Though Federer had his moments of struggle throughout the match, it was more obvious during this set as it seemed his momentum was broken, and he could not recover. Nadal took advantage of it, and it became a Nadal set. Nadal won the set, 6-1 and thus the match. The Nadal-Federer overall head-to-head matchup now stands at 17-8.

Match Analysis

This was a match where, though both players had some good moments, neither was anywhere near their best tennis. I am a Nadal fan and have been for a while, but to be honest, the first two sets—especially the first—should have belonged to Federer. However, Roger could not capitalize on the breaks he had.

By the same token, Nadal ended up playing longer and harder to secure the second set and losing the third set. There were other factors that played a role—balls and the wind, for instance—but their roles were lesser in the grand scheme of things. In the end, Nadal made the most of the advantages provided, edging out Federer to capture the win.

Wrap-Up

After all was said and done, Nadal secured two more places in the record books at he tied Bjorn Borg’s record of six French Open titles and joined the ranks of the 10 and above Grand Slam titles’ list with his win at Roland Garros. What a great achievement in both cases and a fitting end to a birthday weekend for Nadal. Not to be left out, I do have to congratulate Federer on his journey to this final and a good match. Even as a Nadal fan, I have to respect that Federer is a great tennis player.