“He might be sick. Maybe there’s incredible wind, rain, 10 rain delays.”
Roger Federer might have 20 Grand Slams to his name, but the Swiss knows he faces an almost impossible task in the French Open semi-finals – beating Rafael Nadal.
The defending champion, dubbed the ‘King of Clay’, is eyeing a record-extending 12th title at Roland Garros and has only lost two of 93 matches since his debut in Paris in 2005.
So what chance does Federer, whose only French Open title came a decade ago, have of beating Nadal in the last four?
“Like against any player, there is always a chance,” said the 37-year-old.
“Otherwise, nobody will be in the stadium to watch because everybody already knows the result in advance.”
Federer can take confidence from the fact he has overcome Nadal in their past five meetings, though he has only beaten the Spaniard twice in 15 attempts on clay and never at Roland Garros.
A 19-year-old Nadal won the first of those matches at the semi-final stage on the way to claiming his maiden Grand Slam in 2005, while his other four victories have all come in the final.In fact, it is a decade since Federer got the better of Nadal on clay, beating him in Madrid in 2009 three
weeks before lifting his only French Open crown.
It has been eight years since he last met Federer at the tournament, clinching the 2011 final in four sets.
The 33-year-old has not faced Federer at the tournament since the 2011 final, when he won in four sets, while the Swiss took just four games off his rival during their last meeting on the surface in Rome in 2013.
“I’m very happy to play Rafa, because if you want to achieve something on the clay, inevitably, at some stage, you will go through Rafa,” added Federer.
“You never know. He might have a problem. He might be sick.
“You might be playing great or for some reason he’s struggling. Maybe there’s incredible wind, rain, 10 rain delays.”
Federer is playing at Roland Garros for the first time in four years, having missed the 2016 event with a back injury and skipped the past two clay-court seasons to preserve his body.
He made his return to the clay last month with runs to the quarter-finals in both Madrid and Rome, and dropped his only set of the tournament so far in a win over compatriot Stan Wawrinka in the last eight.
But Federer, the oldest man to reach a Grand Slam semi-final since 39-year-old Jimmy Connors at the 1991 US Open, has struggled to convert break points so far this tournament, taking just two of 18 against Wawrinka and only making 36% (20 from 55) in total.
He will be wary of the top-spin game possessed by left-hander Nadal, who has only dropped two sets since his last defeat in Paris four years ago.
“I’m looking forward to the test,” added Federer.
“You have to be fearless to some extent to take on the spinny balls, the sliding balls, the kicking balls, and that’s what I will do on Friday.”
