NEW YORK — Count Johnny Mac among those “praying” for a Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal quarterfinal next Wednesday night at the US Open.
“I’m praying for it,” McEnroe, the seven-time Major winner, said Thursday on ESPN. “They’ve never played at the US Open. It would be absolutely massive. It would be similar to that [Pete] Sampras – [Andre] Agassi [quarterfinal] match [in 2001].”
Ever since the draw came out, tennis fans have been eagerly anticipating a matchup between Federer, the five-time Open champ and the No. 7 seed, and Nadal, the No. 2 seed and 2010 U.S. Open champ.
Federer is the all-time leader with 17 Major titles, while Nadal owns 12. The two legends have met in every Major except Flushing Meadows.
“I didn’t even know he was in my quarter,” Federer joked in his on-court interview after crushing Argentine Carlos Berlocq, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 in 1 hour, 35 minutes to advance to the third round. “I thought he was on the other half of the draw.
“Right now I’m trying to focus round by round,” Federer added. “The biggest mistake that I can do now is focus on Rafa right now and then you lose the next round. I might get Sam Querrey next round so he play can well here, especially in the States. So that’s what I’m focused on, but clearly I’d love a matchup with Rafa. But for that to happen I need to keep on playing good tennis.”
Nadal holds a 21-10 edge all-time on Federer, including a recent three-set victory in the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
Nadal, who plays later Thursday night in Ashe, has won nine tournaments this year, including back-to-back hardcourt events coming into the Open in Montreal and Cincinnati.
Federer, by contrast, has won just one tournament in 2013.
“I mean, for me, one match against Rafa is not going to make my season or going to make me super confident or not,” Federer said. “It needs to be more than that.
He went on to say that despite winning just one event “it hasn’t been a terrible season up until Wimbledon, and Wimbledon was just a disappointment [losing in the second round]. I wish I could have played better.”
He added: “For me it was just sort of like playing matches again, enjoying myself training really hard, and I really got the matches I was looking for in Cincinnati, and I’m still sort of hopefully gaining confidence match by match.
“As we know, it might not just take a match but might take just a few matches, and next thing you know you’re playing really, really good tennis again and you’re close to playing some really great tennis. I think that’s kind of where I am right now, and that’s where every match is really important to me now and that’s how I play every single point right now.”
