Posted by Peter Bodo, TENNIS.com
There are lots of reasons to love Rafael Nadal, but the undisputed king of them all is his pure competitive drive. That feature is currently on display in Monte Carlo, where Nadal is about to face a clay-court litmus test in the form of his Spanish countryman and current No. 5, David Ferrer. Judging by his performance Thursday, Nadal's reply will be something on the order of "Test this, caballero!"
Nadal gave up just five games to Juan Carlos Ferrero, a resurgent player and former French Open champion, winning eight games to Ferrero's one from 4-all in the first set to end the mercy killing. Suddenly, that grousing Nadal did in Miami about the compression of all those Masters events into just a couple of weeks in Europe in April and May seems almost like … sandbagging.
Any suspicion that Nadal wasn't all that fired up about his annual Sisyphean mission -- returning to Europe to defend an astronomical number of rankings points that are never quite enough to overcome Roger Federer's lead -- has gone up in puff of red dust. It's like the guy gets some hidden internal battery changed on the night before Monte Carlo gets underway.
We now have a twofer when it comes to that proverbial "dream quarterfinal." Federer is going up against David Nalbandian, and Nadal is going to butt head(bands) with David Ferrer. This highlights one of the more interesting features of clay-court tennis: On no other surface do you have quite as many compelling matches, due to the leveling influence of the slow red dirt. The tour has a prominent number of clay-court experts whose consistency trumps what weaknesses they have thanks to the extra time the courts provide for drawing a bead on a shot.
On the whole, this reality is apt to create greater problems for Federer than for Nadal. Federer is the archetypal creative risk-taker; he's less able to simply overpower and outlast opponents on clay. Guys like Federer like to play points that are eight- or 10-stroke combinations heading for swift resolution via an error or winner; they have their patience -- and nerves -- sorely tested on clay.
Although Nalbandian's motivation and fitness are always suspect, he's most comfortable as a counter-puncher, and Federer will give him plenty to work with. That's partly why Nalbandian has been able to beat Federer the last two times they've played, and has a sterling 8-8 record against him.
In that other highly anticipated quarter, it's hard to imagine Nadal getting overly distressed by a guy who has very little with which to hurt him. Ferrer makes his living grinding down opponents, but all he's likely to be grinding after he gets a facial courtesy of a few Nadal forehands is his teeth.
Ferrer is 2-0 against Nadal in their most recent meetings, but neither of those was on clay. Still, you have to wonder when the last time the top two players in the world were involved in "dream quarterfinals" against guys who are 2-0 against them in their most recent meetings.
Peter Bodo
