Former Australian Open champion Ivan Lendl has backed world No.1 Rafael Nadal to claim this year’s title, but he says the talent runs deep in the men’s draw. Lendl, who won at Melbourne Park in 1989 and 1990, told the official draw ceremony it’s a “fascinating time in men’s tennis right now.” “To me, the draw did not in any way influence who is going to have the best chance. You can never look past Roger [Federer], obviously he has a fantastic record in the past, and he’s still a top player. But Rafa is a little bit [of a] favourite in my mind.”
Four of the top five seeds - the exception being No.4 Robin Soderling - have been Australian Open finalists, and Nadal, Federer and Novak Djokovic are all past champions. Lendl says this year’s Open winner will come from that elite group. “Rafa has improved periodically, and that’s why he’s No.1 at the moment, [but] Roger has started playing a bit better towards the second half of [last] season, and I think Soderling, Murray, and Djokovic have been improving, trying to close the gap.”
Lendl remains the only male to make three consecutive men’s finals since the Australian Open moved to Melbourne Park in 1988. And despite having more than 1000 professional wins and 94 titles next to his name, the Czech-born American says players relish nothing more than the big stage. “All the majors are big matches. Obviously you can say you’re playing for No.1, but I never looked at it that way. If you win majors, you deserve to be No.1. If you don’t win majors, and you’re No.1, there’s something wrong with the rankings.”
When asked how he’d stack up against today’s champions, Lendl was circumspect. “You cannot compare to today’s level,” he said. “You can look at track and field, you can look at swimming, and no times from the ’80s are holding with the times of today. “However, if you put me on their level today, and said ‘where do you want to play Roger?’ I would say very slow clay. ‘Where do you want to play Rafa?’ Probably fairly quick indoors.”
