Sporting Life - Tennis | Tennis News, US Open, Flushing Meadows, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer

08/09/08 15:11 BST

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AUSTRALIAN OPEN MEN'S PROFILES

(2) Rafael Nadal
PRE-TOURNAMENT ODDS:	7/1
NATIONALITY:	SPA
BIRTH DATE:	03/06/86
BECAME PRO:	2002
WORLD RANKING:	2

VERDICT

The undisputed king of clay having won three consecutive French Open crowns, Nadal is not feared so much on a hardcourt with his results being somewhat inconsistent, at least against the top players. Hasn't gone past the last eight here in his three previous appearances and this year will have to deal with the new Plexicushion surface. Has some of the best defence in the game but you feel he will have to attack more to emerge victorious. Is capable of doing so, but there look more likely winners.

TEN-YEAR GRAND SLAM HISTORY
	07	06	05	04	03	02	01	00	99	98
Australian Open	QF	-	4R	3R	-	-	-	-	-	-
French Open	W	W	W	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Wimbledon	RU	RU	2R	-	3R	-	-	-	-	-
US Open	4R	QF	3R	2R	2R	-	-	-	-	-

Men's Profiles

(1) R Federer
(2) R Nadal
(3) N Djokovic
(4) N Davydenko
(5) D Ferrer
(6) A Roddick
(7) F Gonzalez
(8) R Gasquet
(9) A Murray
(10) D Nalbandian
(11) T Robredo
(12) J Blake
(13) T Berdych
(14) M Youzhny
(15) M Baghdatis
(16) C Moya
(17) I Ljubicic
(18) J I Chela
(19) L Hewitt
(20) I Karlovic
(21) J Monaco
(22) J C Ferrero
(23) P-H Mathieu
(24) J Nieminen
(25) F Verdasco
(26) S Wawrinka
(27) N Almagro
(28) G Simon
(29) P Kohlschreiber
(30) R Stepanek
(31) I Andreev
(32) D Tursunov

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