French Open men's final preview - Rafael Nadal vs David Ferrer

(3) Rafael Nadal vs (4) David Ferrer – H2H Nadal leads 19-4 (16-1 on clay)

You would have to be a brave man to bet against Rafael Nadal winning an eighth French Open title in Paris on Sunday. And that has as much to do with Nadal’s overwhelming track record at Roland Garros as it has to do with his opponent’s underwhelming track record at the major tournaments.

For all the consistency that Ferrer has displayed over the years on the tour (he’s been ranked between 4 and 6 for every week in the past two years and in the top 10 since October 2010), he will be playing his first Grand Slam final and has only one Masters Series title to his name. And while that may have a lot to do with the dominance of the Big Four in the game, it also has a lot to do with Ferrer’s belief whether he truly belongs among the elite of the game. Ferrer’s goal at the beginning of the year was to remain in the top 10! Even the mental midgets from France have more self-belief and higher goals than that.

Three of Ferrer’s wins against Nadal have come on hard courts and his only win over Nadal on clay came in their first meeting in 2004. Since then, Nadal has beaten Ferrer 16 times in a row on clay, 12 of those in straight sets. The pair has already met thrice this year – all on clay. In Acapulco, Nadal dropped just two games against Ferrer and called it one of his best performances. But in their two most recent meetings – Madrid and Rome – Ferrer has pushed Nadal to three sets each.