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By Lana Maciel / Saturday, January 25, 2014
When the final installment of the 2014 Australian Open gets
underway, it will be another Spain versus Switzerland
contest, but this time, Rafa Nadal will look across the net
to a different Swiss opponent.
Photo credits: Mark Peterson/Corleve
Two weeks ago, 128 men
descended upon Melbourne Park, all with the same goal in mind:
to outlast the rest of the field all the way to the second
Sunday of the fortnight and claim the Australian Open trophy.
And day by day, the numbers whittled down to 64, 32, 16, eight
and four, as players were sent packing one by one, their quest
cut short.
And then there were two.
On Sunday night, top seed and 2009 champion Rafael
Nadal will take on a determined No. 8 seed
Stan Wawrinka for the Australian Open title.
On paper, the numbers are daunting. Wawrinka and Nadal have met
12 times in their careers. And 12 times, Nadal has claimed the
win.
But for underdog Wawrinka, 0-12 means nothing heading into the
contest.
“I don’t care about having lost [12] times. It’s more about
playing Rafa,” he said. “He’s the No. 1, the best player. His
game is quite tough for me, especially with a one-hand
backhand. But I had some good matches last year against him,
close ones. Before to beat Djokovic was the same. I was losing
13, 14 times before that. Just the fact that I’m always trying
and I always think that I can change all the statistics, that’s
positive.”
Indeed, breaking that 14-match losing streak to Novak
Djokovic in the quarterfinals on Tuesday must have
done wonders for Wawrinka’s confidence. Perhaps Djokovic was
just a hair below the level he was at this time last year when
he beat the Swiss in that classic five-set match. But that’s
not to take anything away from Wawrinka’s achievement. If
anything, it shows how much better Wawrinka is this time
around. After all, a win over Djokovic, even if he wasn’t at
his peak, was still far from an easy task. Wawrinka’s win
proved he has what it takes to beat any of the “Big Four” on
any given night, possibly even in a major final.
That mental gain is certainly something he’ll carry with him
when he steps onto Rod Laver Arena Sunday night.
“I have more confidence in myself,” Wawrinka said. “I know that
when I go on court I can beat almost everybody, even in the big
stage like in a Grand Slam.”
As for Nadal the pressure is on him, as a former champion, to
take the title.
But Melbourne Park is a place where he’s struggled in the past,
physically and emotionally, save for the one title in 2009. He
missed the 2006 event due to a foot injury, and was forced to
skip last year because of his ailing knees. In 2010 he retired
midway through his quarterfinal match against Andy Murray, then
fell in the same round the following year to countryman David
Ferrer while playing through a muscle strain.
Needless to say, it’s not the best track record Down Under for
Nadal, who considers the Australian Open one of his favorite
events. But he does have momentum swinging in his favor this
year, as he recently won the warm-up event in Doha and
currently sits on an 11-match winning streak.
He’s also physically looking as strong as ever — and Nadal
insists the infamous blister is not a factor. He’s quick, and
he points to his movement and as the key factor in why he has
been able to produce such great shot-making over the past two
weeks. We certainly saw how effective it was against
Roger Federer.
“I am moving quick. I am able to come back from a difficult
situations, you know,” Nadal said. “With great shots from the
opponent I am able to keep producing power on the shots. And
produce great shots from very difficult positions. That’s
because the movements are ready and because I feel power in my
legs when I arrive in tough positions. I hit a few passing
shots [against Federer] that if [I was not] quick and playing
with confidence, I cannot hit those shots.”
Against Wawrinka, Nadal will likely use the same tactic he’s
used time and again against Federer: target the high backhand
to Wawrinka’s one-hander. But to counter, the Swiss could
benefit from taking the advice that his compatriot would
possibly offer: take time away from the Spaniard and attack
early and often – and watch out for that down-the-line pass!
But of course, it’s all speculation and educated guesses from
the outside. In their own minds, each has formulated a strategy
for how to stop the other from getting ahead.
“He’s serving unbelievable,” Nadal said of Wawrinka. “He’s
hitting the ball very strong from the baseline. Is very
difficult to play against him. I know it will be a very, very
tough match. If I am not able to play my best, I think I will
not have chances because he’s coming to this match with a lot
of victories and playing great.”
Adds Wawrinka: “I know what I have to do. I know that I have to
play aggressive, serve really well, and try to always push him.
I’m playing my best tennis here; physically I’m ready.”
The first and only other time these two men met at Melbourne
Park (in 2007), it was their first ever head-to-head contest,
which favored Nadal 6-2, 6-2, 6-2. Something tells us that this
time, seven years later, their Australian Open meeting won’t be
so one-sided.
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