Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and the Williams sisters will be the main draw, yet again.
A bizarre week of tournament tennis reached a fittingly unexpected conclusion a week before Wimbledon with Roger Federer losing a match on grass, an occurrence so freakish it has only happened twice in eight years.
Even stranger is the fact that Lleyton Hewitt, his conqueror in the ATP Tour event final in Halle, Germany, had been Federer’s bunny to such an extent that the Australian had lost in their 15 previous meetings.
The 29-year-old Hewitt — the 2002 Wimbledon men’s singles champion — defeated Federer 3-6, 7-6, 6-4, adding the great Swiss to the list of glitterati in men’s tennis who have suffered setbacks ahead of converging on London SW19.
The world number one, Rafael Nadal, lost his quarter-final at the Queen’s Club in London to fellow Spaniard, Feliciano Lopez, 7-6, 6-4. He then had to withdraw from the men’s doubles at the Queen’s Club because of a hamstring strain in his right leg.
Nadal was joined by Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Andy Roddick as Queen’s Club casualties in what must be seen as an imperfect week of preparation for Wimbledon. And now Federer has lost a title which he has won each of the last five times he entered at Halle.
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Hewitt, a former world number one but now down to number 26 in the world and considered past his prime, joins Nadal, winner of that epic 2008 Wimbledon final against Federer, as the only man to have beaten the Swiss on grass since Croatia’s Mario Ancic in 2002 at the All England Club.
Nadal’s defeat to Lopez ended his run of 24 wins in a row and came five days after he secured his fifth French Open title. It also ended his 14-match unbeaten run on grass.
So who do the defeats hurt most? Federer must have winced at Roland Garros, not just because he lost in the quarter-finals to Soderling, but with Nadal triumphing for a fifth Roland Garros title, the Spaniard regained his world number one spot. Federer likes being number one; the number two tag does not suit his persona or his Rolex sponsorship.
Federer’s defeat in Paris, on the back of a woeful clay court season in Europe, meant that he lost his extraordinary record of making the semi-finals or better in 23 consecutive Grand Slams. It is another microscopic fracture in his aura, but that is something which is automatically reinforced the moment he walks through the gates at Wimbledon.
After all Federer is the man who has won more Grand Slam titles than anyone else in history — 16 of them, six at Wimbledon. He is also the defending champion. But it is also true that Federer, for all his dominance, is something of a paradox. Even his most ardent fans are at a loss to explain how lesser mortals on a tennis court can actually go out there and beat him. Nadal, though, is a special case, and his record against Federer stands at 14 wins to Federer’s seven. These two are the main protagonists at Wimbledon, being number one and two in the world, and they have contested seven Grand Slam finals, of which Nadal has won five, three of them in Paris, the incredible 2008 Wimbledon final and the 2009 Australian Open. Federer leads Nadal two wins to one on grass, both of them Wimbledon finals.
Federer’s win-loss against Andy Roddick stands at 19-2, and Britain’s number one, Andy Murray, also holds an advantageous win-loss record against the Swiss, standing at 6-5 in favour of the Scot. Murray has an impressive record against Roddick (6-3), Juan Martin del Potro (5-1), Nicolay Davydenko (5-4), but he is down against Nadal (3-7) and Djokovic (3-4).
The last statistic that may just have relevance is that Federer is 28 (he turns 29 in August), and Nadal has only just turned 24. Murray is 23. Federer still moves like a cat around the court, but his speed is not quite what it once was. That could well be the awkward step between Federer and a seventh Wimbledon crown.
In the Ladies event, it is good to see Maria Sharapova back in action, although the 2004 Wimbledon Champion lost the Aegon Classic Final in Birmingham to China’s Li Na, who will now return to the world’s top 10, a fantastic achievement for the Chinese number one. The Williams sisters arrive in London as world number one and two, but as we saw in Paris, players such as Australia’s Samantha Stosur and Italy’s Francesca Schiavone have new found belief in their game and can take it to the Americans.
The Belgians, Kim Clijsters and Justin Henin, are back after retirement and are just as capable of causing a major upset — Clijsters is the reigning US Open champion. The Serbs, Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic have struggled with form; Jankovic arrives in London as the world number four, but Ivanovic is languishing down at number 45 in the world rankings.
The final factor could well have the final word — British weather. Centre Court does have its roof and that does confer a distinct advantage for those lucky enough to play on the hallowed turf, but for those on the outside courts, it could be a tougher proposition. For another year at least, the main players on centre stage will be Federer, Nadal and the Williams sisters. Centre Court favours the great champions that these four players all are… but strange things are happening in the world of professional tennis.
Alan Wilkins is a TV broadcaster for ESPN Star Sports. Inside Edge appears every alternate week