Nadal losses, Federer withdraws

DOHA, Qatar — Tennis giants both former world no. 1 Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had a negative turn in their respective battles to get back on track.

The grand slam king and the defending champion of the Qatar ExxonMobil Federer decided to quit his semi final clash against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga due to a sore back he got during his previous battles.

Federer withdrew because he doesn’t want to worsen his condition and have a hard time battling in the Australian Open that starts on January 16.

He started hot in the tournament by dropping just nine games in his first two matches, however bad things happen. He had a good decision in quitting the tournament.

“I hurt my back in the second-round match (on Wednesday),” Federer said.

“I don’t think it’s the right time to risk anything right now. For Australia, I’m optimistic. It’s not good, but it isn’t crazy bad.

“Without playing and the right treatment I will get through it in the next few days. I have a long journey in front of me, but hopefully mid-next week I should be 100 per cent again.”

On the other hand, the current World no. 2 Nadal had a very bad game. The Spaniard lost to Gael Monfils of France 6-3,6-4.

Monfils overshadowed Nadal as he started well against Nadal. The Spaniard had the chance to come back in the second when he was leading 5-3, however Monfils did not give up and routed his opponent.

“He had fantastic shots with very good backhands, good forehands, his movements were fantastic.” But he also blamed his defeat on being too aggressive in the first set and then some poor play — losing two serves in a row — and some bad luck in the second.

“I didn’t play the right way tactically in the first set, in my opinion. I wanted to play more aggressive than usual, playing more inside, don’t wait. So to play against him, I know that I cannot play like I did in the first set. I need to wait a little more. I need to play a little bit, you know, slower and wait my chance,” said Nadal.

Monfils set up a all french final in Doha as he will meet with his good friend Tsonga for the title.

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Posted by Johndel Kaye Patrick Callora on Jan 7 2012. Filed under Tennis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.