Federer soaks in the pressure

From the moment Rafael Nadal was knocked out of the French Open on Sunday, Roger Federer has been on the most nerve-jangling journey of his career and the jitters are likely to get much worse over the next few days.

With an elusive French Open title and a record-equalling 14th Grand Slam dangling tantalisingly within his reach, the Swiss knows the stakes could not get higher as he prepares to take on Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro in the semifinals.

“We’re all nervous at this stage of the competition. I felt it. Yesterday I felt it, and I felt it again today before the match. I was tired, I was nervous, and I didn’t feel really good,” the world No.2 said after beating Frenchman Gael Monfils in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.

Since 2005, four-time champion Nadal has assumed the role of being Federer’s personal tormenter at the Open, beating the Swiss four times in Paris, including in the last three finals.

Each time the Swiss arrived hoping to become only the sixth man to have won all four majors in their careers and each time the Spaniard sucked the life-blood out of him — as was evident in last year’s final when Federer won a measly four games.

But with his nemesis having been taken care of by Sweden’s Robin Soderling in the fourth round, Federer knows he may never again have another golden opportunity to lift the Musketeers’ Cup, especially since his aggregate win-loss record against the three remaining men in the semis stands at 26-1.

Nadal’s conqueror Soderling will face Chilean 12th seed Fernando Gonzalez in the other semifinal and both realise their match is likely to be just a sideshow to the main act on Friday. Soderling is hoping to become the first Swede to reach the final here since his coach Magnus Norman achieved the feat in 2000. The 24-year-old is delighted he is able to pick the brains of someone who has travelled the same road.