Get Ready for the Roger and Rafa Show

Roger has a new coach and Rafa has new knees – the two best players in the world are, therefore, ready for episode 22 of the Roger and Rafa show.

The two serial champions have been at each other’s throats for the past six years and should they live up to their No.1 and No.2 seedings at this year’s US Open, they will be facing each other for the eighth time in a grand slam final, the 22^nd time in all, but, oddly, for the first time ever at Flushing Meadows.

The cement courts of Queens were, until last year, the Mighty Fed’s domain while Rafa, often exhausted and hurting from his efforts in the first half of the year, has never quite found his feet here. That said, two consecutive semi finals in the past couple of years is still not half bad. Certainly, Fed is not taking his old friend’s challenge lightly.

“There’s not much he’s doing wrong,” Federer said. “If you can make it to the semis, you can make it to the finals.  That’s pretty clear. Maybe if he would have played only one semis in a grand slam in his life, then we’d talk differently but he’s had success all around the world, even here in New York. I consider that a success playing two straight semi finals. It’s just that he ran into guys who were dangerous, who were tough, who were better than him on the day.”

Then again, it was quite easy for Federer, he of the five US Open titles and the one runners-up spot, to regard his rival’s two semi finals as a good effort. Good, but, so far, not nearly good enough to hurt the Swiss.

To try and restore his former edge, Federer has now finalised his coaching arrangements with Paul Annacone. Once Annacone has severed his last remaining ties with Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association, he will become a fully paid up and card carrying member of the Federer entourage. Quite when that will be is still under discussion but as the boss explained: “I’m a Swiss guy so we go by the minutes, you know, not by the weeks.”

Nadal, meanwhile, is still running in his knees as you would a new car engine. After winning Wimbledon, he took three weeks off for a “new treatment” to cure the chronic pain in his right knee. He has never quite explained what that treatment is – his English is rapidly improving but it is not quite up to medical terminology and anatomical detail – but he would admit that, gradually, he is getting better.

“You know that after Wimbledon I had to do a treatment on the knees,” Nadal said. “So I did three weeks, and a little bit more when I can do nothing in those moments. After that I started to practice a little bit late. I arrived to Toronto and Cincinnati so‑so. But that’s what I did. I did all I can do, because I have to stop three weeks, and after I have to start slowly.

“So most important thing is how I am playing. That really says if I am ready to have any chance to play the tournament here or not. So I hope be fine. I practiced a lot this week. I think if we are talking general, probably arrived a little bit better than other years, but I did two semi finals last two years, so wasn’t a bad result. I was there. We will see what happen this year.”

Both men talk admiringly of the other and both are toeing the official line: it would be absolutely fabulous to meet in the final this year. Deep down, though, neither wants to meet their greatest rival in the final that matters most to them. Nadal is desperate to win in New York and complete his career Grand Slam, a task that would be made all the easier if Federer were not there. Federer, on the other hand, is desperate to get stop his slide – two quarter final finishes in the last two slams is simply not good enough by his exacting standards – and get back on the winner’s podium.

“For to me play against Roger or not doesn’t matter,” Nadal said. “In this tournament, for me the important thing is play well and try to be in the last rounds. If I am in these last rounds, I going to have big chance to play against him because he always is here.”

So, ladies and gentlemen, Roger and Rafa will, they hope, be here for two more weeks as they lead up to episode 22 of tennis’s greatest mini-series. Get your tickets now and avoid the rush.

Topics: Alix, Boss, Cement Courts, Coach, Domain, Eighth Time, Entourage, Episode 22, Federer, Knees, Lawn Tennis Association, Nd Time, Old Friend, Open Titles, Paul Annacone, Rafa, Ramsay, Runners, Semi Finals, Semis, Six Years, Ties

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