The upcoming Rafael Nadal-Andy Roddick semi-final at Indian Wells could easily be dubbed 'The battle for No.2' or 'What tennis would be like without Roger Federer' There’s no doubt that the tournament will have benefited from this impressive match, as Federer's exit can lead to the next best thing: Roddick to progress late into the second week. He’s doing that with ease, and now he takes on Nadal in front of a capacity crowd in Stadium One on Saturday. The Roddick-Ivan Ljubicic quarter-final was far more appealing than I thought it would be. Both men rely heavily on their serve to win points, but long rallies were also quite frequent. It was entertaining stuff, considering a Roddick match usually consists of someone getting blown off the court: for 80 percent of the time it's Andy’s opponent, but the other 20 percent it’s Andy himself, when he goes into la-la land and can’t escape. Part of the reason for the high amount of back-and-forth tennis was down to Ljubicic’s style. I don’t think I ever noticed this before, but for all the times Ivan keeps the ball in play and keeps rallies going, he’s doing just that and nothing else. He never seems to actually dictate the play. He's always reacting and keeping the point alive. The Croat hits the ball hard, but never in an effort to dictate to his opponent how the point will be played. Even short and slower balls from Roddick did not result in a quick counter-punch from Ljubicic; they were instead returned simply and with ease, and it was up to Roddick to make the first move. I was hoping Roddick would win in order to set up the match with Nadal and it appeared he would indeed remain on course for the showdown because, particularly in the tiebreaks, he looked comfortable. Both breakers were extremely close, but Roddick never looked threatened or unable to control the situation. Ljubicic was not grabbing control of the points and therefore couldn’t get Andy rattled enough to throw him off his game. This lack of killer instinct really hurts Ljubicic, in my opinion. He has the shots and the power to play with the top players but it's why I feel he’ll never be a “great” player, and I certainly don’t forsee any Grand Slam silverware sitting in his trophy cupboard if he maintains this approach. As for Nadal, he squared off with Juan Ignacio Chela, winning 7-5, 7-5. I only caught the first set of this match, but from what I saw, it was totally different to the Roddick-Ljubicic clash. Chela can best be described as the 'anti-Ivan Ljubicic' – the man goes for his shots all the time, putting everything behind his ground strokes on both sides. There were unforced errors, but all in all, Chela did well due to the way he dictated play. Nadal did just as well to combat this aggressive style of play with his patented defence-to-offence game. He’s the king of transition, and the points can change as quickly as you can say Vamos! In some ways, I feel that Chela was the best opponent Nadal could have faced in order to prepare himself for Roddick’s power game – Nadal handled it well, but it will be an entirely different beast in the next round. It took Darren Cahill’s post match interview with Roddick to remind me that he hasn't faced Nadal in over two years – their last encounter was in the Davis Cup final in Spain (on clay). I remember the match vividly – it was the coming-out party for Nadal, who from that point onward assumed the title of 'most charismatic player on tour' through his mannerisms and his style of game. I think it was also the last time I saw Nadal wearing proper tennis shorts, as opposed to the clam diggers. After seeing that match, even as a United States tennis fan, I can recall going out that evening at my college and wanting to emulate Nadal in some way. Even with no courts or rackets nearby, I let loose some “Vamoses”, high leg kicks and fist pumps in the early morning hours. I’d like to see Nadal win this match, as it would set up a really impressive storyline for the spring months ahead – should Nadal win this title, the Federer-Nadal rivalry would once again be brought to the forefront of the tennis world, something I think is always good. It might also get some of the naysayers off Rafa’s back in terms of winning a tournament since the French Open. Win or lose here, Nadal has done admirably up to this point at Indian Wells. But does Roddick need this win even more than the Spaniard? I think many people would argue that he does. This is Roddick’s fourth semi-final this year - in four events played - but if you ask most people what they’ve gleaned from Roddick in 2007, they will recall the whitewashing that Roger Federer handed him in Australia. A popular consensus about Roddick has been that he can ease through the minnows, but against the best (Federer, Andy Murray in San Jose, Tommy Haas in Memphis), he comes up short.
If Roddick can win, he’ll also have a credible chance of closing the gap on Nadal in the No.2 ranking slot. Admittedly, the clay-court season would shift the momentum back in Rafa’s favour, but regardless, a win against Nadal would inspire a lot of confidence going forward.
At this point, after seeing Roddick’s deadly game against Gasquet and Ljubicic (neither had a break point against Andy), I simply can’t discount the American. But should Nadal win, I think I’d be even more impressed with his game than I was before, since I feel he’s the clear underdog. It should be a great match and I eagerly await it.
