May 03, 2010

Tennis Canada

As the clay court season is reaching the halfway point, it is evident who the top players are and which players are in good shape heading into Madrid and the French Open. The second of three clay court Masters 1000 tournaments concluded on Sunday as Rafael Nadal took the championship against David Ferrer in Rome at the Internazionali BNL D'Italia.

After a few rain delays, Nadal clenched the final in straight sets over Ferrer, 7-5, 6-2, as he breezed through the second set to victory. This improves Nadal's record to 38-12 on the season and earns him a record-equaling 17th Masters 1000 trophy.

Along with Nadal, there are four players that have been playing exceptional tennis in these first few tournaments on clay. Two Spaniards, Fernando Verdasco and Ferrer have looked very solid on their favourite turf. Verdasco reached the semis at Rome, the final at Monte-Carlo and captured the championship at Barcelona in between. In addition to his final appearance in Rome, Ferrer reached the semis of both previous events.

Serbian Novak Djokovic held his own in both preliminary Masters tournaments and it will be interesting to see if he can break through the Spanish dominance in Madrid. Ernests Gulbis is another player who demonstrated outstanding tennis in Monte Carlo. Although he fell to the No.13 seed Stanislas Wawrinka in the round of 32, he redeemed himself in Rome a week later, defeating Roger Federer in the second round in a three set upset. All of these men carry a lot of momentum into Madrid and the French Open.

Historically, Federer does not have his best performances in the Masters tournaments leading up to the Grand Slams, but he is also capable of turning it up when the situation demands it and will certainly be eager to defend his Roland Garros title. However, Nadal looks to be back on form and it may take the performance of a lifetime to beat the gladiator of the clay court.