Serena Williams and Roger Federer have one last chance at Rome to resurrect their clay campaigns. Beset by injuries, th two 34-year-old legends have tricky draws to deal with. What are their chances?
Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray now have one nemesis in common – Novak Djokovic. They will have to realign in order to deal with him. How ready are they?
Players in Resurrection mode
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Serena Williams will be playing her first tournament on clay this year. Missing from action earlier owing to illness, the World No.1 has a draw full of minefields. Simona Halep, the newly crowned Champion at Madrid and Angelique Kerber, the reigning queen at Stuttgart stand in her way.
Halep’s improved serve and Kerber’s all court game will be quite a challenge for Williams. Though Williams has won three titles at Rome, clay has never been her bastion.
Readiness: Lack of match practice could affect Williams’ chances. She may manage a deep run at Rome but is prone to defeat at the hands of Halep or Kerber, or even the resurgent Azarenka.
On the contrary, this may work in her favor arriving at Roland Garros. Though she is the defending champion there, she may escape the excessive scrutiny of her attempt to bag Slam No.22.
Roger Federer opted to pull out of Madrid to rest his back. Back at World No.2, owing to Murray’s failure to defend his Madrid title, Federer is not in an enviable position. At Rome, he finds himself in the same half of the draw as Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Slated to meet either of them in the Semi Final, Federer has few more hurdles to encounter in the early stages of the tournament.
Federer will have to get past the unseeded Alexander Zverev and 13th seed Dominic Thiem in the Second and Third Rounds respectively. Thiem, who has off late put together a string of noteworthy performances, should be a stern test for Federer.
Readiness: The three matches at Monte Carlo should hold Federer in good stead at Rome. Touted to meet Kei Nishikori in the Quarter Final, Federer has lost their only meeting on clay in a 3 Set battle at Madrid in 2013. However, Nishikori has to quell the ‘Gasquet challenge’, against whom he is 1-6 head to head, before playing Federer.
Federer may do well enough to reach the Semi Final. Given his record against Nadal on clay and Djokovic’s current dominance, Federer may not have another shot at his first Rome Masters.
Victoria Azarenka returned to the top 10 in style. She marked her resurgence by winning Brisbane earlier this year and reinforced it by clinching back to back titles at Indian Wells and Miami. Her clay campaign was cut short by a back injury at Madrid. Azarenka typically takes more time to prepare for the red dirt.
Readiness: Yet to prove herself as a seasoned clay court player, she has reached the Finals at Rome in 2013. Azarenka will be looking to build on her recent successes. She was clinical in the couple of matches she played at Madrid. Over the years, she has also managed two Quarter Final berths and one Semi Final appearance at Roland Garros. Her epic clash against Serena Williams in last year’s Quarter Final at the French Open showed glimpses of what a quality clay court player she can be.
The hunger and ferocity with which she plays her tennis should outdo her lack of reputation on clay. She is definitely the favorite at Rome along with Simona Halep.
Players in Realignment mode
Andy Murray will be looking to pick up from where he left last year at Rome. Murray was done in by fatigue following a remarkable streak on clay that saw him win nine matches in a span of ten days. He pulled out of the Rome Masters last year after he won his first match. Titles at Munich and Madrid, a Semi Final berth at Roland Garros and a maiden Davis Cup in 2015 have made Murray a force to reckon with on clay.
Readiness: In 2016 Murray has coped well on clay so far. He has made changes to his game from one tournament to the next. He also crafted distinct strategies for different players by closely watching their videos and deciphering their patterns of play. After losing a hard fought match to Nadal at Monte Carlo, Murray made all the necessary changes to his game.
He served big and essayed deep ground strokes to render Nadal’s sledgehammer forehand ineffective. And the result was a straight set win over the Spaniard at Madrid.
Though Murray eventually fell to Djokovic in the Madrid Final, he pushed the Serb and made him work for the title. The one area where Murray fell short and will be looking to improve in Rome is the break point conversion. This stat stood at an abysmal 20% (2 out of 10) in the Madrid Final. The Serb rarely gives his opponents opportunities of this magnitude.
At Rome, Murray will not meet Djokovic or Nadal or Federer till the Final. If Murray can make the best of the favorable draw handed to him, he has a great chance of winning his first Rome Masters.
Rafael Nadal seemed to have found his Champion self on clay after back to back title hauls at Monte Carlo and Barcelona. He rekindled ‘the La Decima dream’ and Federer concurred. The Swiss Maestro averred that though Djokovic is favorite to win at Roland Garros this year, Nadal is Nadal.
Readiness: The Spaniard has discovered his confidence and competitive spirit but still needs some adjustments to remolding his former invincible self on clay. Dropping a set against Juao Sousa and losing to Murray in straight sets at Madrid dented his campaign. Nadal converted just 15% of the break point opportunities he had against the Scot. Is Nadal holding back at key moments or did Murray just bludgeon himself out of trouble? The Scot served 8 aces against Nadal.
Nadal has to deal with Milos Raonic or Nick Kyrgios, the next-gen players, in the Quarter Final. He will most probably meet Djokovic in the Semi Final. The wounds of a straight set defeat to the Serb at Roland Garros last year are still fresh. The Spaniard has to produce something extra special to stop the Serb.
Santina – Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis - were synonymous with ‘unstoppable’ in 2015. The dream partnership took off at the Indian Wells last year, where they won their first title on debut and never looked back. Champions at Wimbledon, the US Open and the 2016 Australian Open, this stunning duo achieved a winning streak of 41 matches. The triumph at St. Petersburg was their last title together.
Now the French duo of Kristina Mladenovic and Caroline Garcia has stolen the thunder. These ‘Powerpuff girls’ have defeated Santina in two consecutive finals at Stuttgart and Madrid.
Readiness: Santina’s Achilles heel has been their serve. Both Mirza and Hingis have never been known for big serving during their Singles careers. While Hingis has always relied on strategic placement of her serves, Mirza over time has improved in that department being in the company of the Swiss legend. Their serves were repeatedly broken by Mladenovic – Garcia at Madrid. Though the Indo Swiss pair did mount a comeback in the Second Set, the hard hitting French duo played clutch tennis in important moments. Despite making a great start in the Stuttgart Finale, Santina could not carry through that momentum in the Second Set. They eventually lost in the 10 point tie-break to the same French team.
The old tricks of the trade no longer work well. It was good enough for the last year but the French duo now pose a new challenge. Santina could regain some of their lost edge by reworking their magic. Hingis, with the wealth of experience and her incredible tennis quotient, should be able to pave a new path for their partnership to reach a new high.
The prospect of these players resurrecting and realigning their games at Rome is very exciting.
It could be a battery of firsts with Murray, Azarenka and Santina winning their first ever title in Rome. Or the old horses like Williams and Federer could throw the much awaited surprise and holler, “We are not done yet!”.
Either way the average tennis fan stands to gain.
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