by Aaron Isaac Feldstein
The sun set on what has been noted as possibly the best grand slam final in tennis history. Pitting the two best currently in the sport, No. 1 Roger Federer and No. 2 Rafael Nadal went back and forth as they battled for the top crown in their respective sport.
Nadal looked as if he was going to walk away with the title, then Federer fought back like a prize fighter against the ropes. But even though the rain delayed the game, what it didn’t delay was history.
As tennis fans stayed glued to the television from early in the morning till late in the afternoon, they were rewarded with what could be considered the greatest match to grace the grass court.
In an amazing five set thriller, Nadal yanked history from the grip of the world’s No. 1. With Sunday’s loss, Federer failed to tie William Renshaw’s record of six straight Wimbledon victories set back in the 1880’s. The 26-year-old who has held the No. 1 spot since February of 2004, failed to tie Bjorn Borg’s 41-match win streak at Wimbledon.
And the only person Federer has to blame is Federer.
Maybe the pressure of winning six in a row was too much. Maybe the lack of light in the fifth set caused Federer to put his best shot, the forehand, into the net and give Nadal his first grand slam title outside the French Open. But throughout the match, the greatest player in the game today wasn’t the dominant champion tennis fans are used to seeing.
Federer had an unprecedented 52 unforced errors, including the final forehand shot into the net. Although unforced errors are one of the hardest statistics to calculate, it wasn’t difficult to see how simple shots for a normal Federer turned into points for Nadal. Easy slice shots went out of bounds or into the net; hard forearm smashes went long.
Despite how bad he was playing, Federer still had a shot to win his sixth straight Wimbledon. The Swiss had 13 chances to break Nadal and open this match right open, but only converted on break point once. This could be a credit to Nadal not giving into the tennis giant, but it looked more like Federer doubted himself and lost that killer edge that has earned him 11 grand slam victories.
Even though Federer wasn’t at his best, he was able to fend off three championship points, including the fourth set tiebreaker when Nadal was serving for the tournament. Nadal gave everything he had to pull off this victory, and Federer wasn’t even at the toop of his game.
Although Federer won’t walk away from Wimbledon as champion, it is hard to note Nadal as the next big thing in tennis. That title still belongs to Federer.
There are four grand slams tournaments in tennis: The French Open, Wimbledon, U.S. Open and the Australian Open. Federer has five Wimbledon titles, four U.S. Open wins and two Australian championships. At the end of August, Federer will arrive here in New York and attempt to win his fifth straight U.S. Open, the first player since Bill Tilden of the 1920’s to do so. Nadal has never even sniffed the finals of a hard court tournament, the furthest being a semi-final appearance at this year’s Australian Open.
Federer has six more grand slam titles than Nadal.
Federer has been No. 1 for a long time now, and it is hard to believe he is going to drop from that ranking. Although, without one grand slam victory this year, Federer is dangerously close to becoming No. 2 thanks to his longest slam drought since 2003.
It will go down as one of the best Grand Slam finals in ATP Tennis history. Rafael Nadal has slain the dragon that is Switzerland’s Roger Federer and has been officially crowned Wimbledon Champion.
Today may be Nadal’s time to shine, but let’s not dub him the new king of tennis just yet. That title still belongs to Federer… for now.
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1 comments:
I didn't watch, but I wish I had now!! Sounds like it was a great match. Always a pleasure to read your articles.
~Michelle
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