Nadal and Federer get back to the battleground

Roger Federer will begin his bid to regain the world number one position from Rafael Nadal when the 2009 men’s circuit gets underway at the Qatar Open on Monday.

The opening week of the ATP World Tour could see the two great rivals meet for the first time since their sensational Wimbledon final six months ago. However, the duo will be wary of the threat posed by Andy Murray after the Scotsman beat both players to win the $2,50,000 Abu Dhabi exhibition event on Saturday.

Last year’s four-hour 45-minute Wimbledon epic was won 9-7 in the final set by Nadal, though it was Federer who produced the most memorable quote. “From my point of view many people left feeling sorry for me instead of being happy for Rafa — which hurts,” he said.

An ATP poll of 65,000 people recently showed that 44 per cent believe Federer will regain the top spot he held for a record 237 weeks, and the Doha event could indicate whether they are right.

Against that, 34 per cent thought Nadal would go on to become the first left-hander to finish world number one in back-to-back years since John McEnroe in 1981-84.

Last year the muscular Spaniard won the most titles (eight) and the most matches (82) and he is still only 22. This suggests he may not yet have reached his peak and should have more years left at the highest level than his 27-year-old rival. “I believe he could stay number one for two or three more years. He will have a hard battle this year but he is the best player right now,” Nadal’s agent Carlos Costa said.