AFP/File – Rafael Nadal has won five French Open titles in the last six years, seven Monte Carlo Masters titles … ROME (AFP) – Revenge is very likely to be on the cards when the Rome International begins on Sunday in the last big event ahead of the French Open later this month.
Ahead of the Madrid semi-finals on Saturday, world number one Rafael Nadal was comfortably the man of the moment.
He had won his last 36 matches on clay, five French Open titles in the last six years, seven Monte Carlo Masters titles in a row, six out of seven in Barcelona and five out of six at the Rome Masters.
He has won 31 titles on clay -- a record -- and is unbeaten on the surface for almost two years.
Nadal is the reigning champion in Rome where he has only lost once, to Juan Carlos Ferrero in 2008.
On top of that he is top of the ATP rankings and won three out of the four Grand Slam events last season.
And yet he has been overshadowed this year by the world number two, Serbia's Novak Djokovic.
It is Djokovic who claimed the opening Grand Slam of the year in Australia and he followed that up by defeating Nadal in the finals of both the Indian Wells and Miami Masters.
What's more, in both he came back from a set down to upset the world number one.
In fact, Djokovic has yet to taste the bitter pill of defeat this season, going 30 matches without loss.
That puts him third on the all-time list of unbeaten starts to a season behind John McEnroe (44) and Bjorn Borg (33).
Should Madrid continue to go to form then the top two seeds would meet in the final and one of them would lose his unbeaten record this season -- Nadal's on clay and Djokovic's overall.
And that would set things up nicely for Rome where either the Spaniard or the Serb would be looking for revenge.
However, there are two other factors that cannot be ignored.
The first is former world number one Roger Federer, now having to get used to life not just in Nadal's shadow but also Djokovic's.
Federer has only one title this year, in Doha in January, but as long as he continues playing, he will always be a danger.
Spaniard David Ferrer who won the claycourt title in Acapulco and reached the finals in Monte Carlo and Madrid where his old nemesis Nadal beat him.
He was also the runner-up to Nadal here last year. Ferrer has not beaten Nadal on clay since their first ever meeting in Stuttgart in 2004 although he did beat his compatriot at the Australian Open earlier this year.
The women's event, as ever, should be far more open with French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, the second seed, and world number one Caroline Wozniacki both suffering early defeats in Madrid.
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