bwin Sportsblog - Tennis - The Graveyard

Some people are calling this years French Open at Roland Garros "The Graveyard" because of all of the top names that are being beaten. Since my last post on this subject, we have lost both Andy Murray and Roger Federer in the top half of the draw. Federer was beaten yesterday by Robin Soderling in the quarter-finals which brings to an end his remarkable run of 23 consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals........a feat that may take a long time to be beaten. It is rather fortunate for Federer that he broke his French Open duck last year because next year will see him another year older and the clay isn't his favourite surface. You would have to say that Federer must be a favourite never to win this tournament again although you would never dare write him off. The big question is now, can Rafael Nadal reproduce his best to win back the title he used to own not too long ago. His four consecutive titles here between 2005-2008 was a major factor behind why Federer failed to win for so long. But Nadal hasn't won a slam since the Australian Open in January 2009 so we are going back nearly 18 months for a Nadal major victory. He has had terrible injuries in that time of course which threatened his very career at the top. At one stage it looked a certainty that Nadal would surpass Federer for the most slams but with Federer kicking on to 16 and Nadal still on 6 and having injury worries then that is a long way off. I would put Nadal at his best as the best player there has ever been but the price that he has paid for that and the sheer energy that he puts into matches could be his Achilles heel.