Roger Federer eyes shot at Rafael Nadal at the Madrid Open

Roger Federer admitted he’s hoping for the opportunity to face Rafael Nadal at the Madrid Open this week, in order to truly measure his level on clay. Federer made an impressive return to clay by easing past Richard Gasquet to reach the last 16 of the Madrid Open on Tuesday. Twenty-time Grand Slam winner Federer took just 52 minutes to see off Frenchman Gasquet 6-2 6-3 in what his first match on clay in three years after skipping the 2017 and 2018 seasons on the surface to manage a knee injury. “Yeah, that means I’m in the finals,” he smiled when asked if he’d relish the chance of taking on his great rival, Nadal. “And I didn’t have many chances to beat him the last three years on clay, so years go by quickly. Sure I remember back to the finals here in Madrid as one of my good matches on clay, no doubt about it. I think he was pretty tired as well. I played solid. Yeah, of course, I would love to play on clay against him again, even though I know it’s a tough challenge and all that. But again it would be nice to have played him at the beginning of his the career on clay and also at the very end and see how it all plays out. And if I said I don’t want to play him on clay, I think then I would have made a mistake to be on the clay in the first place because he is the measuring stick for all us players.”

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