Rafael Nadal of Spain is indeed the heavy favorite against Fernando Gonzalez of Chile going into the Olympic Gold Medal match for the Men’s Singles Tennis event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. A look into Rafael Nadal’s recent accomplishments include a championship at the 2008 French Open and at the 2008 Wimbledon.

Clearly, Rafael Nadal is the best player in the world right now. Even though Roger Federer of Switzerland still leads the ATP Men’s rankings, his inability to win more tournaments than usual in the 2008 season has allowed Rafael Nadal to come very close to overtaking Roger Federer.

Roger Federer didn’t have a good campaign for an Olympic Gold Medal, losing out to James Blake of the USA. According to Roger Federer, the schedule of the tennis ttournament in the 2008 Beijing Olympics was just ridiculous because it would have the players go through as much as 11 games within one week. Certainly, even if they were tennis professionals, that kind of schedule doesn’t make it easy for the players. In fact, the tennis tournament would be a survival of the fittest as players will be given little time to recuperate before they have to go back in the court again.

Well, that’s how things go in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and if you stick on who the fittest tennis players really are, then perhaps Fernando Gonzalez of Chile and Rafael Nadal of Spain are it!

The winner of the Nadal vs Gonzalez match will go on to win an Olympic Gold Medal while the loser will be awarded the Silver medal.

When the Olympics is done, the last grand slam tournament of the tennis season will be played. The 2008 US Tennis Open will kick off on August 25 in New York.

Find out the latest odds on Rafael Nadal vs Ferando Gonzalez by visiting the 2008 Beijing Olympics sportsbook.

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Roger Federer of Swtizerland, the current World No. 1 tennis player and the top-seed of the 2008 Wimbledon Mens’ Singles Finals tournament, will be looking to advance to the finals if he defeats Marat Safin of Russia in the 2008 Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Singles Semifinals. The unseeded Marat Safin has had an incredible run in the 2008 Wimbledon Grand Slam tournament, but faces a very heavy favorite in the likes of Roger Federer, who hopes to win the tournament for a sixth consecutive time since his first Wimbledon championship in 2003.

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal of Spain, the No. 2 seed of the tournament, will be hoping to advance to the finals with a win against the unseeded Rainer Schuettler of Germany in the 2008 Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Singles Semifinals. Rainer Schuettler earned a spot in the finals after a gruelling 5-set marathon quarterfinal match against Arnaud Clement, and hopefully Rainer Schuettler still has some tennis left in him to go up against Rafael Nadal, who has breezed through the competition so far.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have met at the Wimbledon Finals for the past 2 years, and Roger Federer has been the champion each time. However, Rafael Nadal may have the mental edge over Roger Federer, considering that Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer in their recent meeting at the finals of the 2008 French Open.

Of course, grass is a different surface than clay, and it seems that while Rafael Nadal may be king of the clay courts, it is Roger Federer who is the king of the grass courts. But then, of course, we will just have to wait until the semifinals are over to actually see if Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal make it through to the 2008 Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Singles Finals.

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Rafael Nadal of Spain defeated Roger Federer in straight sets during the finals of the 2008 French Open Men’s Singles. Roger Federer was the No. 1 seed of the 2008 French Open, but it was Rafael Nadal who was heavily favored to win the finals. Rafael Nadal did not disappoint the oddsmakers, who certainly saw that Rafael Nadal was on the top of his game after cruising in the semifinals against 2008 Australian Open champion and No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic. Roger Federer had a shaky semi-finals victory, and perhaps that also took its toll when Roger Federer faced Rafael Nadal in the finals.

The victory in the 2008 French Open is Rafael Nadal’s 4th consecutive French Open title.

The next tennis Grand Slam tournament will be the 2008 Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Tournament, which will take place in Wimbledon, England, this coming June 2008 until July 2008. Rafael Nadal will be hoping to continue his success on the grass courts, and hopefully bag the 2008 Wimbledon title, and maybe even take over the World No. 1 title currently being held by Roger Federer.

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World No.1 men’s tennis player Roger Federer of Switzerland will be going up against World No. 2 Rafael Nadal of Spain in the Men’s Singles Finals of the 2008 French Open.

A quick look at the statistics between Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal shows that Roger Federer is 6-10 overall against Rafael Nada, including 1-8 when playing on clay surfaces, and the big statistic is that Roger Federer is 0-3 at the French Open, where they also met in the 2005 French Open Semi-finals.

Rafael Nadal has not lost at all in the French Open and has an impressive 27-0 record overall. In fact, oddsmakers are putting down Rafael Nadal as the favorite to win against Roger Federer even if Roger Federer is ranked World No. 1, and is the tournament number one seed. Perhaps, there’s a lot of history to back up the performance of Rafael Nadal in the French Open, and the odds based on history do indeed favor Rafael Nadal winning over Roger Federer in the 2008 French Open Men’s Singles Finals.

In this year’s 2008 French Open semifinals, Rafael Nadal booked a very convincing straight sets victory over No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia. Meanwhile, Roger Federer looked a bit shaky against 59th seed Gael Monfils of France, who played in his first ever major semifinal. Roger Federer managed to beat Gael Monfils in 4 sets despite the home court French crowd rooting Monfils on.

In any case, it’s a classic showdown between No.1 vs No. 2 at the Men’s Singles Finals of the 2008 French Open - Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal.

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World No. 1 men’s tennis player Roger Federer of Switzerland is looking on track for a trip to the 2008 French Open Men’s Finals and is set to play on the third round against Mario Ancic of Croatia.

Meanwhile, World No. 2 Rafael Nadal of Spain may have won his French Open third round match against Jarkko Nieminem of Finland in straight sets, but Rafa Nadal did require some medical treatment on some nasty blisters on his foot. With still a lot of tennis to be played before reaching the finals, it may not be certain if Rafael Nadal will even be fit enough to withstand blisters. After all, blisters need time to heal, and the tennis matches going to the finals will just get harder and harder, and eventually those matches in the French Open will take their toll on the feet of Rafael Nadal. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Rafael Nadal might retire in one of his upcoming matches. Maybe Rafael Nadal might even retire in his French Open Quarterfinal match against fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.

Looking sharp, howevrer, is No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who is looking to win his 2nd Grand Slam Tournament this year after successfully winning the 2008 Australian Open. Novak Djokovic will have to get past Paul-Henri Mathieu of France in the French Open Men’s Quarterfinals. Definitely, Paul-Henri Mathieu will have the home support of the French crowd which will make it difficult for Novak Djokovic.

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Serbian Novak Djokovic, the World No. 3 in Men’s Tennis, held off a comeback by American Mardy Fish to win the 2008 Pacific Life Open final 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 on Sunday and secure his second prestigious ATP title of the year.

“It’s been a dream start to the year,” said third-seeded Novak Djokovic, “Before I started this year, I said my goals were to be consistent with results, reach the Masters and hopefully win a Grand Slam. I did that in a very, very small amount of time.

“I also want to congratulate Mardy on a fantastic week. He’s a much better player than that [98th] and deserves to be ranked much higher.”

Mardy Fish, ranked a career-high 17th four years ago, capped a remarkable week that featured three victories over top-10 players by stunning Swiss world No. 1 Roger Federer in the semifinals.

“This has been a tremendous week for me, definitely one I will never forget,” said Mardy Fish, who won the last of his two ATP titles in Houston in 2006. “Yesterday was one of the best days of my life and this is my favorite tournament.”

Novak Djokovic made a fast start in the final, winning the first six points of the match and breaking Mardy Fish in the second game when the American crowd favorite hit a forehand long.

The second set went with serve until breaks were exchanged in the sixth and seventh games, with Novak Djokovic throwing his racket in frustration after double-faulting for his lead to be pegged back to 4-3.

Mardy Fish began to replicate the form he produced the previous day to stun World No. 1 Roger Federer, and piled on the pressure in the 11th game before breaking when Novak Djokovic netted a backhand.

That put Mardy Fish 6-5 up and he served out for the set, leveling the match with 1 set a piece when Novak Djokovic blasted a backhand drive into the net.

“I was nervous in that moment and it resulted in some unforced errorsNovak said of his inability to close out after leading 4-2 in the second set. “I gave him the opportunity to come back into the match, which he used.”

Novak Djokovic fought back from 0-40 down on his own serve in the first game of the third set to hold the game, and broke Mardy Fish in the second game of the third set with a backhand winner down the line.

The rest of the set went with serve until Novak Djokovic fired his 10th ace of the afternoon for his first match point before sealing victory at the second attempt when Mardy Fish struck a backhand long.

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Defending Pacific Life Open champion Rafael Nadal, 2008 Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and women’s top seed Ana Ivanovic all advanced to the third round of the Pacific Life Open with straight set wins during their second round.

No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal beat qualifier Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, 6-3, 6-3.

The third-seeded Novak Djokovic bested Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-3, 7-6 (3).

No. 9 seed James Blake was a winner over Marc Gicquel of France, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1 .

On the women’s side, No. 3 seed Jelena Jankovic, No. 6 Marion Bartoli and two-time Pacific Life Open winner Lindsay Davenport joined Ana Ivanovic in advancing to the third round.

Ana Ivanovic of Serbia defeated Romania’s Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-1, 5-7, 6-0.

Jelena Jankovic, also of Serbia, beat Ahsha Rolle 6-0, 6-2.

Marion Bartoli beat Elena Vesnina of Russia, 6-0, 6-4.

Lindsay Davenport had taken the first set from Gisela Dulko, 6-2, when the Argentine retired due to a strained right quadriceps.

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