Remember Paris, 2007: Moya On Playing Nadal

Final, d. Federer 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4

Rafael Nadal was 12 when he watched on television fellow Mallorcan Carlos Moya lift the Roland Garros trophy. Nine years later, the student and mentor would meet in the quarter-finals on a Wednesday afternoon on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Despite their special relationship, Moya admits he was not happy to be playing Nadal, wishing instead that he could’ve been in another part of the draw. “With Rafa on clay in best of five, it’s like a war,” he says. “You know that you are not going to go past that wall. That’s something that all of us know.”

Their previous five matches, of which Moya had won two, had been tighter affairs. But true to expectation, Nadal rolled past the 1998 champion 6-4, 6-3, 6-0 in just over two hours.

“It was very windy that day, and I didn’t have any chance really to win,” remembers Moya. “The first two sets were very big sets for me. I wasn’t like a break up or something where I could feel that I had a chance, not at all. I broke him back in the first set, and I realised how difficult it was. He was playing very, very deep, very confident.”

During that year’s run, Nadal was at his ruthless best. For the first time at Roland Garros, he did not drop a set en route to the championship match, disposing of Juan Martin del Potro, Flavio Cipolla, Albert Montanes, Lleyton Hewitt, Moya and Novak Djokovic in succession. Following his first-hand experience against Nadal in Paris, Moya had good reason to believe that he would once again win the title.

“You see in him something that you don’t see against any other player,” he says. “I could see if I play well against any player, I could have a chance to win at least, at least have it be a close match, but not against him. He forces you to play every single point; he doesn’t give you any free points. In best of five nobody can do that like him.” 

For the second straight year, Nadal came up against Roger Federer in the final, with the Swiss once again gunning for a fourth straight Grand Slam title. In contrast to the previous year, however, Federer had won three of their past four meetings entering the match. One of those victories had come on the eve of Roland Garros, when Federer snapped the Spaniard’s 81-match winning streak on clay, conceding just two games to Nadal over the final two sets in Hamburg.

This time, Nadal coolly saved 16 of 17 break point chances as he went on to claim the 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win and his third Roland Garros title.

“Before 2007, I was surprised how Nadal was beating Federer,” reflects Moya. “I don’t think 2005, 2006, that Nadal was better than Federer, even on clay. I thought it was more of a mental thing. But he was finding the right way to play Federer, to hurt him, to hurt his game.

“In 2007, I started to feel that Nadal was a better player than Federer on clay. That was the first year I felt that Rafa was controlling the match, controlling the point, and the way he was losing that set against Federer was because he was not playing at his best. When he was playing at his best, he was finding his way to beat Federer.”

Reflecting on Nadal’s achievements, Moya - now 35 and dominating the ATP Champions Tour - acknowledges that having the chance to go head-to-head with him at Roland Garros was also a privilege. “It was a good experience, on the other hand, to play him. He’s probably going to be the best tennis player ever who ever played Roland Garros. If he wins his seventh title this year, he’s going to be the best player on clay, so at least I can say I played him at that tournament.”

REMEMBER PARIS
2005: Chang On The First Triumph
2006: Kuerten On Being Defending Champion
2007: Moya On Playing Nadal
2008: Gilbert On A Dominant Performance
2010: Wilander On A Momentous Win
2011: Agassi On Nadal's Clay Form

2012 Tribute: Roland Garros Is Rafa's House