Federer Fights Back

This is to the tennis enthusiasts. I wanted to write this blog some time back immediately after the French open finals after the way Nadal beat Federer. At that time it seemed to me that there is no way Federer can win French Open while Nadal is around. While everybody agrees that Federer has the game that is stylish and classy, I always felt that he lacked the determination and will to win like Nadal. The other thing that stuck me is Federer’s reluctance to make adjustments to his game to counter Nadal. It has been a few years now that Nadal is relentlessly attacking and exploiting Federer’s backhand with any response from Federer. It used to be in French Open, but now also in Wimbledon from this year. Federer seems to believe (or is it arrogance) that he doesn’t need to do anything different, whatever is the situation. Coming back to this years Wimbledon, it was an excellent high quality match, though I don’t know if it is the best match in Wimbledon ever. Nadal was a worthy winner I think the match really started after the rain break in the 3rd set. In the first two sets Federer didn’t look like a 5 time champion at all. May be at the break the realization must have struck him that he is about to lose his prized possession. What followed was classic tennis and I was unfortunate to have not watched after the 2nd rain break. Though Federer won the 3rd and 4th sets, it is to Nadal’s credit that Federer had to win in tiebreakers. More importantly Federer fought back, probably be most I have seen him do. How he is going to bounce back remains to be seen. As for Nadal, now he has won in grass, his next frontier is the hard courts. I always felt that Nadal’s game is a lot physical in nature. His ability to reach balls that would be otherwise be clean winners is what puts doubts in other players minds and induce errors by forcing them to try highly risky shots to end the points. So a lot will depend on his ability to maintain his fitness given the running he is doing and the resultant wear and tear.

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.