atching Federer slam haul a 'dream' says Nadal

Rafael Nadal played down his chances of matching Roger Federer's Grand Slam haul here Sunday, saying the likelihood of reaching his rival's record of 16 titles remained "a dream."
After adding four more Grand Slam titles in the past year the 25 year old Spanish world number one now has 10 to his name and will be targeting an 11th at Wimbledon over the next fortnight.
Victory at the All England Club would see Nadal move alongside Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver in the all time standings, one behind Roy Emerson on 12, three behind Pete Sampras (14) and five behind Federer. But Nadal dismissed suggestions that Federer's record was in his sights here Sunday, saying he was "very far" from the Swiss master's benchmark. "I am not close to the 16 of Roger," Nadal said. "Sixteen is a lot.
Reigning champion Nadal, who opens the defence of his title with a first round match against American Michael Russell on Centre Court here Monday enjoyed a stellar 2010, scooping the French, Wimbledon and US Open crowns. But although Nadal defended his French crown at Roland Garros earlier this month, he doubted whether he would be able to emulate his feats of last season.
"Last year was in my opinion very impossible to repeat three Grand Slams in a row," Nadal said. "I am very happy about what's going on this season. But I don't think I will repeat what I did last year for sure."
Virtually invincible on the red clay of Roland Garros, Nadal has slowly but surely parked his tanks on the lawns of Wimbledon in recent years, reaching four of the last five finals. The only year he missed was 2009, when a recurrence of a knee injury ruled him out of the tournament.

Defending champ Serena seeded No. 8 at Wimbledon

Defending champion Serena Williams was bumped up to No. 8 in the seedings  18 places above her world ranking - for Wimbledon on Wednesday, a position that will allow her to avoid playing the highest-ranked players until at least the quarterfinals.
Williams won her 13th Grand Slam title last year at the All England Club, but then stepped on broken glass, eventually leading to blood clots on her lungs, and was out of action for nearly a year. She returned to competitive tennis on Tuesday at Eastbourne, coming back from a set down to beat Tsvetana Pironkova 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. Wimbledon starts Monday.
The draw is scheduled for Friday. On the men's side, defending champion Rafael Nadal was seeded No. 1, followed by Novak Djokovic at No. 2, Roger Federer at No. 3 and Andy Murray at No. 4  in line with their rankings. Federer and Nadal have combined for the past eight titles at the All England Club.
For Federer, it's the first time he's been outside the top two seedings at Wimbledon since 2003, the year he won the first of five straight titles at the grass court Grand Slam. Since Serena's injury, she has dropped to No. 26 in the WTA rankings. If Wimbledon organizers had seeded her according to her ranking, the four-time Wimbledon champion could have come up against a top player in the third round.
Her sister Venus, a five-time Wimbledon champion, was seeded No. 24. She has dropped to 33rd in the rankings since missing most of this season with a hip injury. She also returned to action this week in Eastbourne.
"The seeding order follows the WTA ranking list, except where in the opinion of the committee, a change is necessary to produce a balanced draw," Wimbledon organizers said.
"The only changes this year are Serena Williams and Venus Williams moving to 8 and 24, respectively. This reflects the balance between their proven records and also their lack of competitive play in the past 12 months." The sisters have combined to win nine of the last 11 titles at the All England Club.
At the top of the women's seeding list is top ranked Caroline Wozniacki. She is followed by Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters at No. 2, Vera Zvonareva at No. 3 and French Open champion Li Na at No. 4.

Nadal and Murray Head To Head

Paris Playing like he's still upset about his only loss at Roland Garros, Rafael Nadal defeated Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-1, 7-6  on Wednesday to reach the French Open semifinals for the sixth time.The five time champion, who lost to Soderling in the fourth round in 2009 but beat him in last year's final, is 43-1 at the clay court Grand Slam and two wins away from equaling Bjorn Borg's record of six French Open titles.Nadal will face fourth seeded Andy Murray, who reached the French Open semifinals for the first time in his career. The Australian Open runner up, who injured his right ankle in the third round, defeated Juan Ignacio Chela 7-6 (2), 7-5, 6-2.Murray's win ensured that the top four seeded players made the semifinals at a Grand Slam tournament for only the 12th time in the Open era.

 Nadal was back on Court Philippe Chatrier to face the man who was responsible for his only blemish at Roland Garros. But with the wind gusting at one point blowing specks of red clay into Nadal's face the fifth seeded Swede struggled with his first serve, landing only 57 percent during the match.However, Nadal didn't appear to be bothered by the conditions, although he was broken twice. The top ranked Spaniard made only 13 unforced errors, while Soderling had 41.Emotionless for nearly the entire match, Nadal was able to handle Soderling's hard forehand and keep his opponent on the move by spraying shots to the corners of the court.And when he smacked a forehand winner to hold serve to 6-5 in the third set, the crowd roared.

After five titles in Paris, Nadal had plenty of fans in the stands  and even some admirers. Besides the Spanish flags throughout the stadium, one woman held up a sign reading, "Rafa ganador, kiss me por favor. Nadal's semifinal opponent also had an easy time Wednesday.Murray, who tore a tendon in his right ankle last week but still managed to win a five setter in the fourth round, trailed Chela 4-1 in the first set. He then won five of six games to force the tiebreak and broke early in both of the next two sets."I'm surprised I'm here, to be honest, because I haven't actually played that well," said Murray. "That's a very good sign for me, because a few months ago I was not playing well and losing badly. I haven't been playing that well. I'm in the semis of a Slam. That's a good sign."

After reaching the Australian Open final in January, Murray went through a four-match losing streak. But he is now enjoying his best clay-court season, having already reached the semifinals in Monte Carlo and Rome.He lost to Nadal in Monte Carlo but pushed the top ranked Spaniard to three sets.Murray already showed his mental resources this week when he came back from two sets and a break down to defeat Viktor Troicki in a fourth-round match that took two days to complete.Against Chela, Murray said his ankle didn't bother him too much, giving him some confidence before Friday's match against Nadal.On a windy Court Suzanne Lenglen, Chela broke twice to open a 4-1 lead with a forehand passing shot straight at Murray, who struggled physically and even looked out of breath after long rallies.But Murray saved two set points at 5-3, the second with a backhand drop shot. He then broke to level the score at 5-5 with a forehand winner and won five points in a row in the tiebreak.Murray is only the second British man in the Open era to reach the French Open semifinals after Tim Henman seven years ago. If he reaches the final, he would be the first Brit in the championship match at Roland Garros since Bunny Austin in 1937.The

other semifinal Friday will be between Roger Federer and the seemingly unstoppable Novak Djokovic. The second-seeded Djokovic is 41-0 in 2011 and has won 43 straight matches dating to last year's Davis Cup final triumph for Serbia."The best player of the world today against the best player history," Nadal said. "Going to be, in my opinion, fantastic match."