Roland Garros – Men’s Semi-Final Friday Preview

Roger Federer vs. Novak Djokovic

Already the fourth meetings this year and all encounters went to Djokovic’ side. Another victory against Federer would see him equal John McEnroe's 42-match record for an undefeated start to a season.

Roger Federer believes the pressure will all be on Novak Djokovic when the pair meet in the French Open semi-finals on Friday.

Victory for Djokovic, the second seed, will see him replace Rafael Nadal as world number one, while he would also equal John McEnroe's 1984 record of 42 matches unbeaten at the start of a season.

With so much on the line, Federer says he can afford to approach the encounter in a more relaxed frame of find than his adversary.

"There's less at stake for me than for him," said Federer, the 2009 champion.

"He's got a lot of things going on. I'd love to be in a Grand Slam final, because I haven't achieved it for a few Slams, but it's nothing major for me, as long as I keep playing well."

The burgeoning rivalry between Nadal and Djokovic, who has beaten the Spaniard in three Masters finals this year, has cast Federer into the unfamiliar role of support act.

Despite his crown having slipped, however, the 29-year-old 16-time Grand Slam-winner says he is not desperate to keep Djokovic from the number one position.

"It's not the driving force behind this match, to be honest," he said, after beating French ninth seed Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) in the last eight.

"For me the plan is trying to get a step further and into the final at the French Open. That's the big picture, that's what I entered for. "It wasn't to stop Novak."

A lot of pressure on Djokovic’ side as with the win he will enter in another Grand Slam final but also will be for the first time on the first place in rankings. The Serb benefit by a walkover while Federer battled past by Monfils.

"Walkover from Fognini. Bad luck for him, hope he recovers fast. Today I get to enjoy Paris in a different way," Djokovic wrote on his Twitter account after Fognini pulled out of their match on Monday.

The Serbian star, who claimed his second Grand Slam title at the Australian Open and has seven tournament wins to his name in 2011, has never gone beyond the last four at the French Open.

The Swiss lost his serve in each set and he could finish the match much easily but was poor on converting his chances. But another improvement on Federer’s game was that he won a lot of long rallies, something that should do against Djokovic if he wants to win. The Serb has a great defense and he is in great form and plays with a lot of confidence, he will try to keep the ball in play and force long rallies but also goes for his shots when he sees an opportunity. The Swiss served well until now and also looks compact from the back of the court, the physical problem is a question here in a 5 sets match, Federer isn’t without chances here but is hard to go against a confident Djokovic.

"We played quite a bit in a six-month period up to Indian Wells, maybe six or seven times," said the Swiss.

"This is obviously different, being on clay... We'll have to see what the conditions are like on the day."

He added: "Against each other we tend to play positively and not give each other time. He's been playing fantastic this season and I know I'll have to play my best tennis.

"I don't think you have to change a lot (to adapt to the surface), but I haven't played him on clay for a long time."

Rafael Nadal vs. Andy Murray

Like every year, we concluded our permutations and combinations prior to the start of the 2011 French Open. And, now that we have reached the semi-final stage, only one surprised contender is there in our pre-conceived line-up. Yes, we have the top Scot Andy Murray up against the top-seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal in the first semi-final, to be played here at Roland Garros on Friday. Can he continue to surprise us!

Before analysing some other aspects, let’s start with a common actuality – well, it’s a duel between World No. 1 Rafael Nadal who is seeking his tenth Grand Slam title and Andy Murray, who is shouldering the hopes of all those British fans, who believe that the Scot has it to bring home a long-awaited Major title, something that unlucky Tim Henman could not do. Both contenders have all to play for in the semi-final of the 2011 French Open that will be staged at Court Philippe Chatrier in Paris, on Friday. Forget about the past for a while, as anything is possible now because these gentlemen are two steps away from glory and they will give everything to get their hands over the holy grail of tennis.

If we consider the present forms of both the players, then Nadal looks in a far better position. We saw this indefatigable Spaniard in his vintage touch many times at the Roland Garros this year and he once again proved his prominence by easily dispatching Robin Soderling in his quarterfinal match, with a 6-4 6-1 7-6 (3) scoreline. It might sound a bit harsh on Swede, but Nadal thoroughly dominated the proceedings in that match and made it look like a one-sided contest – in the end. With his typical clay-court prowess, Nadal has been winning one match after another on a convincing note here at Roland Garros, expect his opening duel against the lanky Isner, where he had to work his way through five sets. On the contrary, Murray has had his share of struggle in the early matches and things looked pretty bleak, when he twisted his ankle during his third-round match against Michael Berrer. In fact, Murray had to sweat it out against the unseeded Juan Ignacio Chela, as he took almost three hours to beat the Argentinean 7-6 (2) 7-5 6-2 to set up this dream semi-final clash against Nadal. This is the first time that Murray has made it to the French Open semi-final and even a torn tendon cannot dump his spirits – at least for now.

In head-to-head, Nadal leads with a 10-4 edge over the Briton with a consecutive match winning streak of two against Murray. Murray has faced the Spaniard seven times in the semi-finals of ATP Tournaments, but managed to win only twice.

Obviously, this is the biggest test for Murray, who had to face just one seeded player before coming this far in the tournament. The Scot, a three-time Grand Slam finalist, made it to the quarter-finals, here at Roland Garros in 2009, when he lost to Fernando Gonzalez. Murray hit the low form after his Aussie Open final loss to Djokovic and after that he was ousted in the opening-rounds at Rotterdam and Indian Wells Masters. After those humiliating first-round exits, Murray made some progress in European clay-court swing, as he reached the semi-final at the Monte-Carlo Masters before vowing out to defending champion Rafael Nadal. The Scot was ousted by the Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci in Madrid Masters and then he lost to in-form Novak Djokovic in Rome Masters semis.

On the other hand, World No.1 and defending champion Rafael Nadal needs to prove a point this year, and now that he is two wins away from clinching his sixth French Open title, Nadal has the most awaited opportunity to reaffirm his supremacy as the world's best player. After losing four masters series finals to Novak Djokovic, Nadal's self-confidence has taken a serious hit and this 'Mighty Mallorcan' now needs nothing less than a Grand Slam triumph to save his top spot in singles rankings along with a self-belief to have an upper hand over the best in the business.

Murray has made it to the finals of three Grand Slams and has forced his critics to eat their own words many times. "I can definitely win" the Scot avowed and further added that "I feel I can do it, "It's just making sure that, come Friday, I play my best tennis. I have to play a very consistent match and I have to be mentally strong. Tactically, I'm going to have to be very good." When asked about his opponent, the Scot added, "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."

Nadal also lauded his opponent, as he quoted, "I prefer playing against an easier opponent, that's for sure." He further added that “But to play against Andy always is a big challenge, because you know how good he is, and his talent is difficult to compare with a lot of players, in my opinion. He has all the shots. He can defend very well, he can attack very well, he runs fantastic. The only way that you can beat him is playing at very, very high level. It's not going to be impossible. That's what I'm going to try."

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