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| Yes | 50% | 59 votes | Total: 118 votes | |
| No | 50% | 59 votes |
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Add to FavoritesAfter dominating Roger Federer at last year's French Open, Rafael Nadal is poised to join tennis's elite. Being referred to as "the king of clay" has been as a double-edged sword. Avid fans don't believe Nadal's invincibility can include grass courts as well. Opponents psyched themselves out and approached the Roland clay courts playing less their than best. Even "the greatest tennis player ever" collapsed in his battles with Rafael Nadal. The dashing, Portuguese athlete has beaten Federer more than twice the time. Odds-makers are predicting another Nadal versus Federer finals, only because the American men continue to slip in overall tennis tournament performance.
In the last decade, only Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi performed well in London. However, since Sampras and Agassi, American men claimed no Wimbledon titles. The grass courts of Centre Court served as a graveyard for our best and brightest. This generation of Andy Roddick and James Blake continued to tease us with tournament wins before venturing into England. In Roddick's case, he finally defeated Federer early this year. Apparently, his coach, Jimmy Connors, succeeded in instilling that missing "killer instinct". However, Roddick's early success didn't translate overseas. Blake struggled in his French Open first-round match. Unfortunately, he slinked out of the second round in another perplexing defeat.
In Nadal's case, he remained "the owner of Roland Garros". He mowed down opponent after opponent. He hasn't lost one set since setting foot in France. During his last destruction, Nadal casually munched on a ripe banana and what looked like a hoagie sandwich in-between net changes. Some people found it funny. I'm sure others thought he disrespected his opponent. In my opinion, he did both. Nadal entertained the crowd, but at the same time, reminded his foe "You're not in my league." The Sampras of old, the Federers and competitors like that are known to kill off contenders. Champions are intimidators. Jordan, Tiger and Russell always made sure they were on top and you were beneath them. After winning his third, consecutive French Open, he battled Federer in England. The two, young studs matched shot after shot, but the Swede earned his 12th Grand Slam title. After the match, sports analysts said that Federer could finish as WTA's (World Tennis Association) greatest player ever. He sat two titles behind Sampras's 14. Nadal has never beat Federer at Wimbledon. Judging on last year's performance, Nadal has a better chance at victory in England, than Federer has at victory in Paris. The man from Portugal won't be stopped as he pursues his fourth, French Open title and his first conquest at Wimbledon.
Learn more about this author, Marcus Brooks.
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No
Will Rafael Nadal make history at this year's Wimbledon tennis championship? Well of course it is a nice dream, but frankly, in my opinion, it will remain a dream, whilst a certain Mr. Roger Federer continues to play the game at his consistently high level. Yes, Rafa is good, but on the slippery green stuff, Federer is supreme, and few can touch him.
Yes it is true that Federer has had a few hiccups in this current season. He lost twice to Argentine Guillermo Canas in the early season US Masters' Series events in Miami and Indian Wells, and he lost twice to another Argentine, David Nalbandian, at the last two Masters' events in Madrid and Paris. But despite these losses tempting people to say that the era of Federer is over, he has still ended the Season as World Number One by a huge margin, winning three out of the four Grand Slams and the prestigious Tennis Masters Cup. So in my view, we are still in the era of Roger Federer, and undoubtedly his chosen surface and the one where he excels is grass. To make history and win Wimbledon, Nadal would have to break the Swiss players' dominance in SW19, and that would seem unlikely.
There is no denying that Nadal has made great strides in the past few years to shake off his "clay court specialist" tag, and has made great efforts at Wimbledon. This year he flew to London to play Queens Club, the warm-up event for Wimbledon, just a day after winning the French Open, and his enthusiasm, ambition, and work ethic were there for all those of us who were there to see him play. However, thereby lies the problem for Rafa if he is to make history and win Wimbledon. It is just too close to the French Open, which is his favourite tournament, and the one which you could even say he "owns" in the same way that Federer "owns" Wimbledon. To win Wimbledon, Rafa would almost have to forfeit his chances of winning his favourite major - the only one on clay that all Spanish tennis-playing kids dream of winning from early childhood, and I cannot see him doing that. The change of surface, change of court speed and pace, the whole ambiance of the tournaments, and the stress on the body of switching from clay to grass, is too much for anyone to do successfully in such a short space of time.
So in my view, it is almost impossible for Nadal to make history and become the first Spaniard to win Wimbledon since Manolo Santana in the 1960's, unless the ATP calendar changes enormously from the way it is at the moment.
Learn more about this author, Rose Conrad.
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