Battle of the surfaces

Have you ever heard of a tennis court that was half grass and half red clay? Well, recently, one such tennis court was built where Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal played an exhibition match. The King of Grass vs. The King Clay playing on a surface that half-favored both players and as such would give them both equal opportunity to win.

(picture from www.canada.com)

As it turns out, Nadal won in a very tough three set match, with the final set being won in a very close tie-break.

And although an exhibition match has no bearing on official head-to-head records, it still doesn't bode well for Roger Federer that he remains unable to beat Nadal on any court that has some clay in it. As phenomenally great as Federer is, he remains unable to find the key that will help unlock the great unsolved mystery of how to beat Nadal on the dirt.

Nadal was actually on a bit of a slump after Wimbledon and up until early this year. Then the clay court season started and all of a sudden Nadal found his form and began to extend his clay court winning streak to a massive 73 straight wins. He in fact leads his head to head against the Fed (hey, that rhymes!), 7-3. You can argue that 5 out of those 7 wins of Nadal's were on clay, which is where Nadal is at his supreme best. But take note, on hard court, which is a more neutral surface, their head to head stands at 2-2. And in one of those matches, Roger had to save a matchpoint before winning.

So will Nadal continue his utter and complete dominance on his surface of choice by winning Roland Garros again? Or will Federer finally sneak in a win on the red clay to complete his Grand Slam collection? It's only a few more weeks before we find out!