‘It’s harder for them now’ – Top analyst predicts which majors Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal can win
Former World number four Greg Rusedski has revealed which Grand Slam tournaments he feels both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal can win as they return from injury.
Both Federer and Nadal missed the latter half of the season through injury as Federer suffered a setback with his knee, whilst a prior foot injury resurfaced for Nadal.
However, Nadal is closer to a return than Federer as he will make his return when he features at the Abu Dhabi Exhibition in December. He will face either Andy Murray or Dominic Thiem, who is also making a return from a wrist injury.
Meanwhile, Federer is aiming for a return in mid-2022 after he revealed that he would definitely miss the Australian Open and could potentially miss Wimbledon after undergoing knee surgery.
Speaking with Express Sport, Rusedski said “well Roger I think is focused on Wimbledon. I don’t think he realistically believes he can win in Paris (French Open) or he can win in Australia (Australian Open) or the US Open.”
“Wimbledon as we saw in 2019 he had a few match points against Novak [Djokovic].
“This year he didn’t play particularly well at Wimbledon and still made the quarter-finals so if he’s healthy, I think that’s where he believes he still has a shot to win and he wants to win the best titles, he just doesn’t want to make the numbers up so for Roger that’s probably the goal.
“For Rafa [Nadal] it’s the French Open. That’s where he thinks he can get [Grand Slam] number 21 because Djokovic is really the supreme player on hard courts.”
Rusedski also echoed Mats Wilander’s thoughts that Federer and Nadal’s comebacks will be made much more difficult due to the quality of the rising ATP stars which form the top ten, namely Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
“You’re talking about the younger generation, they’re here now. I mean, out of the big three it’s really the big one left which is Novak who doesn’t seem to be going anywhere quite yet.
“It’s harder for Federer and Nadal now because Medvedev, Zverev, Tsitsipas, those guys are starting to believe. They’ve come very, very close.
“Medvedev finally beat Djokovic in a Grand Slam final (the US Open), Tsitsipas was two-sets-to-love up in the finals of the French [Open] when Novak came to win in five sets, and Berrettini was in the other final (Wimbledon).
“So we had no Federer, no Nadal, only Djokovic out of the Big Three in the finals of a Major this year which is very unusual and unheard of in the last decade.”
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