Nadal needs more than luck vs. Federer

T he winner on Sunday between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer is destined to rewrite tennis history.

Both thirty-something, the warriors naturally deserve our collective applause.

For them to reach the finals of the Australian Open was a feat for the ages. And both are winners already.

Just looking at the phalanx of players they slew one after the other is a testament to their incredible resiliency and staying power.

Virtually all their previous victims were blue chip materials.

Hey, isn’t tennis virtually the exclusive domain of the under-thirties?

And yet, here they are, Nadal and Federer—a total of 26 Grand Slam titles won between them—advancing heroically into the finals.

“I never dreamed of ever coming back this far in my career,” said Nadal, the 2009 Australian Open champion, barely recovering from wrist injuries.

Nadal, thirty-fivish, showed teenaged knees in surviving Grigor Dimitrov’s 20 aces for his epic fiveset semifinal victory on Friday.

Nadal had only eight aces and a measly 144-142 margin in points won.

But his dogged determination and his yet to be equaled uncanny ability to cling on to dear life defanged Dimitrov, the unrelenting and unwavering 25-year-old lion from Bulgaria.

Nadal, the Spanish armada from Mallorca, showed his inner stuff and boundless strength once more when he rallied from 3-4 in the fifth and final set to snatch a 6-3, 5-7, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 victory in a classic semifinal lasting 4 hours and 56 minutes.

Down 15-40 in the eighth game, Nadal strung up four straight winners, capping it with a blistering forehand volley to level it at 4-all.

With leaks in Dimitrov’s armor finally showing, a pumpedup Nadal poured it on.

But even as Dimitrov recovered from a double-fault to make it 30-30 in the ninth game, Nadal sped to 40-30 on Dimitrov’s unforced error.

Given the opening, Nadal took it ferociously, unleashing a blazing down the line backhand for the go-ahead 5-4 lead.

Dimitrov gave it one last try in the 10th, dishing off an overhead smash for deuce. But Nadal’s wealth of nine Grand Slam titles would save his scalp in the end.

After two more deuces, Dimitrov finally bowed out, hitting a forehand wide on Nadal’s third match point clincher.

“I was just lucky,” said Nadal.

For me, it’s a privilege. It’s a very, very special thing, I think, for both of us to be in the final of a major again, have another chance to compete against each other after a couple of years having some problems. RAFAEL NADAL