Sports Then and Now

Roger Federer will be looking for his third Grand Slam title of the year at the U.S. Open.

When the latest ATP rankings came out on Aug. 24, 2009, there was a new world number two player who was not named Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer.  Scotland’s own Andy Murray was the first man to break the iron grip on the top rankings since Nadal took over the number two spot on July 25, 2005 – over four years ago.

Nadal held that number two spot for 160 weeks before he finally seized the number one ranking from Roger Federer.  From Aug. 18, 2008 through July 5, 2009 the Spaniard held the crown of number one – eventually handing it back again to Federer, currently ranked in the top spot.

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A year ago Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer in a classic Wimbledon final. Now that he is back for the U.S. Open, will Nadal be able to regain the top perch from Federer.

A year ago at this time, we were all squirming in uneasy anticipation waiting to see how Roger Federer would answer the challenge put forth by Rafael Nadal after the Spaniard scorched the green lawns of Wimbledon and exacerbated excruciating pain on the red clay of Roland Garros.

Make no mistake about it—Nadal intended to take over the No. 1 ranking in men’s tennis before summer’s end.

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