Roger Federer pursued the remaining major crown he was missing and won everything to do a Career Grand Slam at Roland Garros in 2009. Losing a few more finals to his biggest rival, Rafael Nadal, Federer decided to skip Roland Garros between 2016 and 2018 and focus on the grass season.
The Swiss returned to Paris in 2019 and reached the semi-finals. He faced Nadal in another Roland Garros classic and failed in straight sentences. Federer spoke about the game in a recent interview, saying it was one of their strangest encounters due to the wind, with lots of punches that they normally can’t play.
At the time, Federer did not know whether he would return to Paris. Still, he decided to try again this June, returning to Roland Garros, hoping for another deep run ahead of Halle and Wimbledon.
Two years ago, Rafa beat Roger in two hours and 25 minutes 6: 3, 6: 4, 6: 2 and advanced to the 12th final against Dominic Thiem. It was Nadal’s 14th win on clay against Federer out of 16 games and the tenth in 13 major encounters that led to the title fight against Dominic Thiem.
Rafa lost the last five duels against Roger and was aiming for the first win since the 2014 Australian Open. He was determined to finally play off a major rival and expand his Parisian dominance. He secured 92.
Triumph of 94 games in his favorite tournament! Nadal hit 33 winners and 19 casual mistakes, faced four break chances and was only broken twice to put pressure on the other side.
It took Roger a lot more than that to challenge the greatest clay court player in his first semifinal in Paris since 2012. He fired 25 winners and 34 mistakes that normally plague his chances against Rafa on clay.
The Spaniard converted six of 16 break opportunities to control the scoreboard, defend excellently and find an open seat from challenging positions to neutralize Roger’s attacks and keep the Swiss as far out of the comfort zone as possible.
Federer remembered the Roland Garros 2019 semifinals with Nadal
Conditions were harsh and windy, especially in the first set where both struggled to find the rhythm and get their shots through.
Things improved over the second set and it was Nadal who got the upper hand in the closing stages and played well on both serve and return to leave Federer far behind and after taking the title in Rome in May advance to the second consecutive final.
Rafa opened a 3-0 lead and lost the advantage in the middle of the opening set before hitting another 3-2 break when Roger’s forehand landed in the net. The Spaniard finished the first set and won his serve in game nine before the Swiss stepped up to take a 2-0 lead at the start of the second set.
Roger wasted a game point and was broken in the third game after Rafa’s forehand winner. The defending champion had momentum again, held after Deuce in the eighth game and never looked back. He broke Roger 40-0 down in the next game, scooped five points in a row and scored the crucial break with a volley winner that turned out to be the defining moment of the entire encounter.
Nadal held his serve in the tenth game and had the advantage of two sets after an hour and 45 minutes, determined to do the job in the third. Federer had nothing left in the tank, could neither end Nadal’s streak nor find a way to assert his punches and change the course of the game.
Nadal broke Federer’s serve in games three and five and sealed the deal with a 5-2 serve for another final in his kingdom. “It was a good tournament. I played well. That match against Rafa was of course completely calm.
I’ve seen everything against him, but it was pretty fun playing Rafa in these conditions. There are some rallies that you normally cannot play at all. After that I was not disappointed.
Sometimes I even laughed internally at certain points that we played. I was happy to have played in Paris. At the time, I didn’t know if I wanted to play Roland Garros again in my career, “said Roger Federer.
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