January 24 will always be a special day for Fernando González. It is that on this date, but in 2007, he defeated Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and established himself in the top ten of world tennis.
“In that tournament I played the best tennis of my life. I played with (Lleyton) Hewitt in the third round and in the first two sets I made three unforced errors, something I used to do in a game,” the athlete recalled in an interview with ESPN.
And The Queen’s Bomber is not exaggerating. In the first Grand Slam of the year he comfortably defeated James Blake in three sets and then came his memorable engagement with the Spanish star. “That match with Rafa… Playing with him was not comfortable at all for me, because he was left-handed and he neutralized my serve very well,” explained the Chilean.
But something else was seen on the field. González showed no signs of his discomfort and with a resounding 6-2, 6-4 and 6-3 he eliminated who would reach number one the following year and advanced to the semifinals. “I went out on the court injured in my left gluteus and hamstring, and I could barely run,” Nadal later justified. But he added that “at no time would I like to discredit Fernando because he is in the semifinals on his own merit.”
Then, the world sports legend pointed out that “I know Fernando well and he is a very confident player. He is playing more calmly, failing less and at a high level, so he is going to have his chances.”
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And Fernando had them. In the round of the best four he crushed the German Tomy Haas 6-1, 6-3 and 6-1 to define the title with Roger Federer. Unfortunately, the best tennis player of all time would not pass up the opportunity to add a new trophy to his showcase and beat the Santiago native 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4.
“I felt very good physically, super light. I felt like I wasn’t making the slightest effort to move, that gave me great peace of mind to be able to play. I said ‘we can play here for a long time’. “They were tremendous weeks,” said the retired athlete.
Days that would later inspire Federer to win the Australian Open again. It all happened ten years later, in 2017, when her Majesty disputed the hegemony of the world with the King of Clay. “To study the final against Nadal, I showed him a match between Fernando González against Rafa, I don’t remember the year, but it was at the Australian Open. There, Fernando destroyed Rafa and I got some ideas from that match,” said Federer’s then coach, Iván Ljubičić.
Result? 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6 and 6-3 Roger won and established his reign. “I think that after that Australian Open, he started to feel more confident. He played very well in Indian Wells and Miami against Rafa, taking the ball very early, hitting it flat and attacking Nadal’s forehand a little more than he had been doing in the past. Many things that perhaps Rafa did not expect,” concluded Ljubičić.
2024-01-26 11:26:01
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