Today was the dream final for any tennis enthusiast. Yes, today was the final for the most coveted trophy in men's tennis, the Wimbledon. The participants were the great Roger Federer, world no. 1, defending champion and 4 times champion, and world No. 2 Rafael Nadal.This was the world no. 2's least preferred surface. He survived couple of 5-setters, one of those was with his toughest competitors, Mikhail Youzhny. In this game, Rafa, came from 2 sets behind and defeated Youzhny. My friend was willing to bet on this match. He believed Youzhny will easily win the match. Our group exchanged loads and loads of mails on this. But on the match day when Youzhny was leading 2 sets to 0, his belief almost became true. Even a colleague (He is a Federer fan) in my office came to me and asked me to see the scores. I asked him dude lets meet after the 5th set. And the rest you all know, Rafa demolished his opponent in the last 3 sets hitting winners and winners and winners.
One day ago, he had completed the longest match in the tennis history, this match took 5 days due to the rains. His opponent tried everything, even tried to imitate Rafa to disrupt his game. But, Rafa stood true to his name, the bull fighter from Spain.
Rafa played some of his best tennis throughout this whole tournament. And his opponent, guess he was having a holiday, 1 match got cancelled and others got postponed due to rain. And everyone was favoring everyone. And as obvious, on our group we exchanged a lot of mails. Everyone believed Federer will easily win in 3 sets with one bagel set. But Rafa had other ideas.
So, finally the day arrived. The great Byon Borg was there to witness the match. The court was full of tennis enthusiasts, even when the British Grand Prix was there and the local rookie, Lewis Hamilton took the pole position. I even heard that the ticket prices were around 5000 pounds for a pair.
Finally the match began. Roger won the toss and chose to serve. After some little bit of warming up, Roger began to serve. Roger won the first game easily. Scores read 1-0. Rafa, under enormous pressure could not save his serve and got broken. Federer won the next game comfortably. Scores read 3-0. Everyone sensed this was another Federer day. Following game Rafa came to serve and hold his serve. Then in the next game he broke Federer's serve. And in the next game he hold his serve. Scores read 3-3. All was even. The surface was favoring Federer, but Rafa showed all his variety of shots, pass through volleys. First set went into the tie break. Federer eventually won the tie break and the first set.
Next set belonged to Nadal, his great forehand, his ripping backhand. Federer was helpless. Rafa won this set 6-4. Third set was the same story. Nadal was the one ruling the court. Federer only survived due to the number of aces. This set also went to tie breaks which Federer eventually won.
Scores read 7-6, 4-6, 7-6. Started fourth set, and Rafa showed his class, showed why he is being the considered the heir to the world No. 1's thrown. He broke Federer twice and the score read 4-1. And the inveitable happened, Rafa landed badly on his right foot and he got injured his knee. Even in pain and loss of movement, he won the fourth set 6-2.
But that was enough, the pain was growing and his mobility reducing. The most mobile player in the game got stuck to the baseline. Even then hitting winners and great passing shots. But, eventually he got broken. He was committing lots of errors. And Federer won 6-2. Federer won his straight 5th wimbledon title. But, he was the second fiddle to the great champion and the future of Men's tennis, Rafael Nadal.
Rafael Nadal deserved to win the title, not the Roger Federer. One of my friends and a very big Roger Federer fan commented, "Rafa can play so much better than Federer, and today he is showing that. In my eyes Rafa is the champion." I share the same views with my friend.
It was disappointing to see Rafa limping in the final set, but he never gave up. He is mentally so strong and his game is marvelous. His forehand, his ripping backhand, his movement, his passing shots, his returns. But, I felt proud of being a fan of such a great tennis great. Hats off to the phenomenon, Rafael Nadal.
To finish this, in Spanish. Vamos Nadal.
