REUNITED! They may not be practicing together, but all is right in the tennis world when Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are in the same city at the same time for the same tournament. The city is Montreal and the tournament is Rogers Cup, an ATP Masters 1000 event.
Rafael Nadal may be playing Montreal but he’s not promising anything spectacular so soon after his injury layoff: “I will do the best I can to get a good result,” said Rafa at the airport in his home town in Manacor (via his website). “When you play, you always try to give a 100%,” however, given the circumstances, “I’m prepared to lose as well.”
The Montreal Gazette warns: “After watching Nadal practice for nearly two hours yesterday one thing’s for sure: the Rafa fans will see this week could be a shadow of the Rafa they’re used to.”
Rafa won’t have much time to de-rust. He’ll face the winner of David Ferrer vs. Viktor Troicki in his first match and Sam Querrey is a potential Rd. of 16 opponent.
Roger Federer hit the courts late on Friday night with coach Severin Luthi and Davis Cup teammate Marco Chiudinelli (who is playing qualifying).
The Montreal Gazette: “Federer seemed in extremely high spirits. He was tanned – no telltale bags of late nights with the newborns under his eyes. He looked scary fit, too.”
Roger gets the winner of Igor Kunitsyn vs. Frederic Niemeyer (WC) in his first match and could face expectant pop Stan Wawrinka or Radek Stepanek in the Rd. of 16.
Of course, practice court rats know that Roger’s public practice sessions are always loose and easy gab fests while Nadal’s tend to be more intense and focused. So we’ll have to wait and see how they do on court.
Loading ...Thanks to a GTT reader for pointing me to Open Court, a great blog from Stephanie Myles at the Montreal Gazette.
Thumnail photo via the Montreal Gazette.
