The Emperor 3-7 The King
(Overall Head-to-head)
The Emperor 0-5 The King
(Head-to-head on clay)
The Emperor rules the world on all surfaces & conditions - be it hardcourt or grass, indoors or outdoors, except one surface, viz. the red clay. It is the King who is the wizard on this slow surface. Built like a matador, he flexes those biceps bulging out of that sleeveless T every time he hits with that astounding top spin, and then moves effortlessly in those cargo pants almost 6-8 feet behind the baseline to chase every ball sent down, and then rattles the Emperor every time they have faced each other. And the Emperor is not the lone subject in the King's reign on clay - the reign extends supremely over 67 consecutive matches!
5 of those 10 matches between the two of them have been played on clay - 4 of those have been finals along with a solitary semi-final. 2 matches have been played at Roland Garros while the remaining 3 have been at Masters Series events.
In these 5 matches, the Emperor has managed to take only 5 sets while the King has won 14.
All 5 matches have resulted in the King being victorious.
Seems like a one-sided contest, n'est ce pas?
No wonder, Mark Twain famously remarked something about statistics being nothing else but damn lies.
Then consider this fact - out of these 19 sets, 6 have been tie-breakers and another 6 have been decided by a single break of serve. In fact, in the epic 5-setter final (that had 3 tie-breaks) at Rome last year, the Emperor won more points (179 to 174) than the King, yet lost the match.
Just goes to show how close, how tight and how nerve-wracking it gets when these two slug it out in the middle on the red clay.
Just goes to show how much important it is to win those key points.
The 2007 clay season has begun.
These two have shown yet again that they are way ahead of any of their contemporaries by reaching the final of the Masters Series tournament at Monte Carlo last Sunday without dropping a single set.
The final was a contest between the left handed wizard and the right handed genius.
The Emperor opened aggressively, but his forehand, incidentally his biggest weapon, let him down on that day.
The King proceeded to win the final without dropping a set.
The Emperor still has enough time to make amends - the Masters Series at Rome and Hamburg follow suit in May.
The French Open at the end of May and early June is when both the Emperor and the King are likely to cross their swords (or should I say racquets) for the ultimate prize on the slow, red surface.
It is the only major that the Emperor does not have in his prized collection of 10 other majors.
And it is also THE only major that the King has in his kitty.
Both of them have great respect for each other.
When asked about it, the King could not have been more humble or realistic in his reply,
"What can I say about ten Grand Slams against two?"
When it comes to slams, this is the sole difference between the Emperor and the King. Other titles, tournaments and Master Series events will come and go. But nothing more than a slam or a major matters to the Emperor and the King.
This year's French Open may well turn out to be the defining moment in each man's career and the history of the sport of tennis.
Amen!
2 comments:
aare keku.. rightly said, the french is the ultimate.. masters vasters sabh thik hai.. i was so impressed with nadal; he still doesnt consider himself a fav on clay.. thts amazing..
u know wot, i have been a nadal fan since french 05.. but just tht roger is roger.. i wud roger is lucky to ahve nadal.. just as sampras was lucky to have aggs.. mac was lucky to have borg..
majhya comments cha blog honya aadhi baas karto..!!
kedar
u said it kedar! its really good tht federer has nadal to challenge him - its nice that they are splitting their matches - nadal's the clear-cut winner on clay, federer on grass, and hardcourt is still anybody's surface.
shud hv a good time watching the French Open & Wimbledon in the next couple of months.
thanks for your comment.
~ketan
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