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  • ATP Queens: Nadal vs Roddick

    6/14/08 1:30 PM | David Cox
    - Of all the semi-finals Roddick has made at Queens, this must have been his easiest route. Roddick may be through to the last 4 but has clocked up little match practise on the grass with Mardy Fish retiring after just 1 set and then Andy Murray pulling out before a ball was even struck

    While Roddick would probably have been secretly relieved not to face Murray, his aim at the moment is getting his shoulder back to full strength and I’m sure he would have liked a few more hours on court before facing an opponent like Nadal

    Nadal’s progress couldn’t have been more contrasting, Ivo Karlovic pushed him hard for nearly 2 and a half hours on Friday afternoon before succumbing in a 3rd set tiebreak. Even for a man of his physical condition, Nadal must be feeling it somewhat today after being pushed the distance twice in two days

    Their head-to-head is squared at 2-2 with all 4 matches played on either clay or hard. Roddick won convincingly 7-6, 6-2 on the way to the Dubai title in March, easily his best week of the year so far but Nadal claimed the arguably the most important match they’ve had to date, 6-4, 6-3 in last year’s Indian Wells semis

    Roddick has talked all week about how pleased he is with the progress he’s made injury-wise, this will be the acid test, is his shoulder ready yet to challenge an opponent at this level. He’ll need to reproduce the tennis he came up with in Dubai - hitting that forehand huge and playing with controlled aggression. If he can do that he has a shot

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