Nadal's at Wimbledon in Paris
Rafael Nadal must be feeling a little deja-vu at the 2008 French Open. Unfortunately, the memories are probably from Wimbledon 2007 rather than Rafa’s previous runs at Roland Garros. The rains (from Spain) have fallen mainly on the clay courts at the 2008 French Open the past few days as the showers have already delayed and interrupted play several times. Unfortunately for three-time defending champion, Rafael Nadal, he
has yet to complete a set of his first round match. Meanwhile, top seed Roger Federer finished his first round match on Monday and has a day or two off. Similar to his experience at Wimbledon in 2007, Rafael Nadal is now “behind” by at least a day because the first round matches on his side of the draw haven’t been completed yet. As a result, Nadal, assuming he wins a few rounds, could have to play several matches over a fewer number of days than players such as Federer who are on the other side of the draw. Clearly, it is early in the tournament and if the weather improves than Nadal and others should have sufficient time off between matches, but we’ll see… Five set matches on the red clay of Roland Garros are much more physically draining than the long matches on the soft grass lawns at Wimbledon. Hopefully, the weather will not significantly delay the match schedule at the 2008 French Open and thereby impact the outcome of the event.
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