I cannot recall when so much interest and attention has been focused on a quarter-final but when you think about it, it’s only natural. After all, how often does the top seed play the defending champion in the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam tournament?
Perhaps the other Grand Slams should take a leaf out of Wimbledon and calibrate the seedings according to past performance, expertise on the surface and so on — that would prevent such an encounter taking place at the last-eight stage. But these are imponderables and the world of tennis is looking forward to Wednesday’s clash between top seed Novak Djokovic and defending champion Rafael Nadal.
I have nothing to complain about as far as Novak’s progress is concerned; he has been quite exceptional. He has had quality opponents who have given him a good challenge. This is always a healthy thing for a player before he reaches the decisive week of a Grand Slam where you need some tough games under your belt to be in peak form. Richard Gasquet is a seasoned campaigner and the Round of 16 encounter started with the first three points taking almost half an hour.
There on, Novak was able to set the tone of the match and never looked in too much trouble. He has been enjoying the clay season and is up for the long rallies and slides that are part of this surface. As far as Rafael is concerned, he has looked better with every round.
Against Jack Sock on Monday, he was looking fit and energetic. Even when he lost a set, he never looked in serious danger of being challenged by Sock.
With both players looking in such wonderful form, Wednesday’s game promises to be a real high-octane meeting. But I would stop short of calling it a virtual final as some experts are doing. That’s disrespectful to the other six quarter-finalists, three of whom are Grand Slam winners themselves.
Andy Murray’s match against the very underrated David Ferrer might also provide some top class tennis. Murray is playing the best I have ever seen him play on clay. He won at Madrid, which seems to have given him the confidence and belief that he can succeed on clay, against the best in the fray.
— Gameplan
