RG.8- Mister Federer's Lucky Weekend

And on the final weekend of May 2009, Roger Federer smiled.



Or at least he should have, as one day after Novak Djokovic was sent packing at Roland Garros... gulp... so was Rafael Nadal.

Yes, it's true. After four years, thirty-one straight wins, four RG title runs with just seven sets lost before Sunday, Nadal was out-hit, outstretched and outplayed by big #23-seed Robin Soderling of Sweden, who won 6-2/6-7/6-4/7-6 on a windy Paris day when everything we thought we knew about this tournament turned out to be wrong.

So, apparently, Nadal's Madrid loss to Federer, two near-misses against Novak Djokovic and (too?) heavy pre-RG schedule DID mean something. Or not. After all, as the Spaniard noted after the match, he played the same sort of schedule the last four years and he WON Roland Garros. This time, he lost. There's probably no deep, dark secret to take from this single result.

One thing that MIGHT have some meaning, though, could be Soderling's attitude toward Nadal. Much as Rafa's takedown of Federer can partly be attributed to his total lack of fear of him (not hatred toward him, mind you, as he's now stated he'd like to see Federer win this title), Soderling certainly arrived without any feelings of awe toward Nadal... you'd never mock and/or mimic Rafa to his face as he did at Wimbledon two years ago if you felt that.

Nadal is used to getting respect from his opponents, but Soderling didn't have a lot to spare. Based on prior actions, bowing down in such a way just isn't in the Swede's make-up. Not that we can or should expect, or would ever want, future Nadal opponents to follow this path, but it does show that... well, it's A WAY to go.

Even in a sport of "ladies" and "gentlemen," a few "bitches" and "bastards" can make things interesting. I'm just sayin', you know.

Who'll now emerge from the Rafa-less top half is a discussion for another day, as now all eyes fall on Federer.

He now has the best opportunity he'll ever have to get his first Roland Garros title, complete a career Grand Slam, tie Pete Sampras' all-time slam mark... and spend the summer trying to get history TOTALLY on his side in either London or New York. Sure, if he wins now without Nadal around, there'll be something of an urge to declare him a RG champion with an asterisk. But he HAS been the second-best claycourter in Paris the last three years, so we wouldn't exactly be talking about a pauper-to-king situation.

Of course, Rafa or no Rafa, Federer still has to win four more matches to claim this title. Imagine if he DOESN'T win the title now. Whew! Talk about another can of worms.

Needless to say, he'd BETTER win.




All for now.

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