It's taken nearly two years for the tennis dilettantes to catch up with the real genius of Rafael Nadal, but it appears, finally, that everyone has arrived at the same place with his nearly universal recognition as the top player in men’s tennis.
For too long it has been Rafa Nadal, merely a clay court player. Then, Nadal, who can win on hardcourts but never on grass. After two Wimbledon titles, Nadal could win on grass, but won't have enough in his tank at the end of the season to win the U.S. Open.
He's now won them all and is a fortnight away from a new benchmark. With a title at this Oz Open, he can become the first man to win four consecutive majors since Rod Laver accomplished that feat in 1969.
Rafa Slam is a term the media used to describe Nadal holding all four major titles at once. Although this is just the beginning of 2011, the term has fast becoming known in Melbourne.
While a title this month in Melbourne won't match Laver, who won them all in the same year for the grandest of Slams, it's still a sensational accomplishment. John McEnroe never did it. Bjorn Borg didn't do it. Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras didn't do it and Roger Federer has never done it.
Last week, the Spaniard has been infect by illness which almost forced him to withdraw from his most recent event in Doha of Qatar, and prompted fears of a setback to his Australian Open preparations. Nadal earlier claimed that he has been recovering from the illness, and hopefully he will completely shake off from it before the first round starts in Melbourne.
Allez Federer!
Although Federer was unwilling to admit that 2010 is a disappointing season for him, result shows that the year was his lowest compared the last six seasons.
Wining the Australian Open 2010 has increased Federer' s Grand Slam title to 16. However, his record of entering 23 consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals has ended in Paris of France last year. More surprisingly, Federer fell out the 2010 Wimbledon in quarter-final stage, a tournament which he has won the title for six times. It was a year he recorded the worst performance in 8 years, and has sank to World No.3, the first time since 2003.
The media reported that it is time for the 29-year-old King to step down. However, the Swiss refused to give up. After defeating Nadal in the ATP World Tour Finals to close 2010, Federer has already added one title to his resume in 2011, Doha. Earlier this month, Federer beat Nikolay Davydenko 6-3 6-4 to win the Qatar ExxonMobil Open without dropping a set. It was his third title in Doha following wins in 2005 and 2006.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer's coach Paul Annacone warned Rafael Nadal that the Swiss star has the hunger to clinch another four grand-slam titles before he retires. "I don't see an end to it," Annacone said. "He can win every tournament he plays. He's probably not going to, but if you look at how good he is, he can win every time he plays."
Dark Horses:
In addition to Nadal and Federer, Novak Djorkovic and Andy Murray can be counted as the "dark horses" who hold a chance to win the title.
The No. 3 seed, Serbian Novak Djorkovic has won one Grand Slam singles title, the 2008 Australian Open, when he successfully defeated the defending champion Federer in the semi-finals. He has becoming the first player representing Serbia to win a Grand Slam singles title and the youngest player in the open era to have reached the semi-finals of all four Grand Slam events.
Meanwhile, 23 year-old British number one, Murray is also one of the high hopes. Federer earlier commented that Murray is very close to the Grand Slam champion. However, Murray might have to be advanced to the semi-finals over No. 4 seed, Sweden Robin Soderling.
Nadal once said the situation of "Federer and Nadal's era" will not last much longer, so let us keep an eye to the battle of power in next week's Melbourne of Australia.
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