credit: rolandgarros.com, By Helen Gilbert
Everyone loves a good story and in the case of Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal, there have been twists - quite literally - and turns throughout their 2011 French Open journey. It all began when the world No.1 was pushed to the five-set limit by John Isner in the opening round. The Spaniard lived to fight another day and while he has come through every round since in straight sets, Rafa openly admitted his standard of play was not high enough to win the tournament - until his encouraging quarter-final success over Robin Soderling that is.
Murray meanwhile caused panic among his camp and fans when he rolled awkwardly on his ankle and fell to the clay in agony during his third-round match against world no.95 Michael Berrer. It later emerged that the fourth seed had suffered a sprained ankle and a torn tendon, but the valiant Brit battled through the next two rounds, helped in part by continuous treatment and heavy strapping, and is now in his maiden French Open semi-final against the five-time champion.
Both men, who regularly practise against each other at the Grand Slams, are under no illusion about the other's ability to lift their game when desired. They each have a habit of rising to the occasion to play sparkling tennis whenever they meet, and while Nadal has won ten of their 14 meetings, the scorelines indicate the intensity of their encounters.
Reflecting on the tournament so far, Nadal points out that while Murray might be in pain from his ankle, the fourth seed is able to handle it and refers to the tough five-set victory over Viktor Troicki in the Round of 16 as an example. "I believe that Murray was able to play five-setters lately, and I don't believe the fact that he has some pain in the ankle will limit his performance at all," Rafa explained. "It happened to me also to have some pain, and the issue is how you resist the pain. For me, logically I believe that as the tournament goes on, you improve every day and you don't think about what you feel. I think on Friday he will have no pain anymore. He'll be 100 per cent. He's a very special player. He has a lot of talent. He does many things very good. The only way of beating him is to play my best level, very aggressive."
Rafa went on to say that he believes that Murray's talent is difficult to compare with a lot of players. "He has all the shots. He can defend very well, attack very well and he runs fantastic. The only (way) you can beat him is playing at very, very high level and that's what I'm going to try (to do)."
For his part, Murray is not convinced by talk of a rusty Rafa. "He's still playing pretty good, so I know Rafa will play excellent tennis against me on Friday. Pretty much every time we've played we've had some really good matches and he's always played well. Even in practice he plays well against me, so I don't expect him to play badly on Friday." In fact, Murray is quite simply delighted to be at this stage of draw. "A few months ago I was not playing well and losing badly. I haven't been playing that well (but) I'm in the semis of a slam. That's a good sign."
However, the man from Dunblane knows he will have to put in a better performance than he did against Juan Ignacio Chela if he is to have any chance of conquering Nadal. Murray admits he lost concentration in his quarter-final and adds it is "something I definitely won't get away with against Rafa." So what of the ankle? "It's definitely getting better, with each day and more playing on it. You gain confidence more with the movement each time."
In addition to the icing and treatment, Murray will also spend Thursday watching some videos of his past matches again Nadal. "You're going to need all of your reserves to get through a match with Rafa at the French," he says. Murray describes the Spaniard, who has only ever lost one match out of 44 at Roland Garros as "one of the biggest challenges in tennis. His record here is incredible. Definitely I'm looking forward to it. I understand obviously it's going to be an incredibly difficult match for me." So the next chapter of Roland Garros story begins and who emerges as the star character in this particular sub-plot will be decided tomorrow.
Tennis....French....>>...Nadal...vs....Murray
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