Nadal reaches final in Madrid

Spain's Rafael Nadal is continuing to have a spectacular year as he plays for his 4th Masters Series title tomorrow in Madrid. His opponent will be Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia. Nadal's other Masters Series titles this year were in Monte Carlo, Rome, and Montreal. I watched his match in Montreal against Andre Agassi, and he looked very impressive. His best surface is undoubtedly clay, but he soundly defeated Agassi on hardcourts that day. Nadal also reached the final in Miami back in March. He lost a five setter to Roger Federer, but he put up a very good fight. I watched the match on TV and was surprised to see him win the first two sets. These days it's rare to see a player win even one set off Federer. The key to the match was the third set tiebreaker, which Federer won. After that he dominated the last two sets.

Nadal is the real deal, but he's still a little bit inconsistent. After winning the French Open, he lost in the early rounds of both Wimbledon and the US Open. I think that when Nadal is playing his best tennis, he can beat anyone in the world except Federer. He's beaten Federer on clay, but at this point I strongly believe that he is not capable of beating Federer on grass or hardcourts. Fortunately for Nadal, Federer has a foot injury which caused him to withdraw from the Madrid tournament. His only obstacle now is Ljubicic, and I think he'll dispatch him with relative ease tomorrow.