Sunday, June 10, 2007

Federer's road to Greatness is through Nadal

This one is for the tennis folks. I am writing this after watching the French Open final yesterday. It was not a bad match, but considering the high expectations of Federer, it was disappointing. Like many, I was hoping for a Federer win, but anyway felt Nadal won't give up easily. Federer had many chances, but he did not take it. He strengths like serves & forehand deserted him and Nadal anyway was hammering him on his backhand. What was disappointing was that Federer did seem to put him much of a fight.. atleast his body language didn't suggest so. He had that look of a beaten man long before the match ended. Having said this, Nadal is a worthy Champion and he deserved the French Open. Almost everybody agrees that Federer is hugely talented, probably having the best game ever. But it is almost like he expects the opponents to rollover in awe (like Royalty), which anyway seemed to be mostly happening so far in other surfaces. He hasn't needed to try too hard. But clay is a different ball game and Nadal the reigning champion is not going to give up a inch and he has that warrior mentality who seem to treat every point as a life and death issue. It is clear that, for Federer, the road to French Open title will have to pass through Nadal. How he deals with this will define his legacy. There is already talk of whether Federer is the greatest player to play all time. I think it is meaningless. You have to be the greatest player in your time, then only you become for all-time. Greatness is not only about winning, but how you react to pressure and challenges in you way and overcome it. In that sense, Federer has some distance to cover.

2 comments:

  1. Today evening, Federer and Nadal face off again in the Wimbledon final. Nadal has proved that reaching last year's final was no fluke. It's going to be interesting match. Federer doesn't seem to be at his best and I won't be surprised if Nadal wins today. I am actually looking forward to see Federer stretched to 5 sets and see how he responds. On the flip side, Wimbledon matches seem no different from clay court matches with players slugging it out from the baselines.

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  2. The results are out and Federer won again. I got my wish of 5 setter and I was proven wrong (Federer won). Federer just managed to scrape through. Actually Nadal seemed to be in control and on course to win from the fourth set onwards. I think Federer's serves saved him. Having said this, it is a great achievement to have equalled Borg's record. Nadal will have the chance to equal Borg's record in the French Open in the next few years. Nadal has been able to close the gap between him & Federer in Wimbledon, but Federer hasn't been able to do the same in the French Open. Let's see how the rivalry shapes up going forward.

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