Is it wrong that I'm sort of unnaturally excited about the Roland Garros men's final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal?This is probably the most-hyped match that I can remember. Let's face it, it's the only match (on the men's side, anyway) that anybody's cared about all tournament long. These are the two best players in the world, and the gap between them and the rest of the field is HUGE!
Just taking a look at some of the numbers for a moment...
- Federer is 44-3 this year, with all loses at the hands of Nadal
- Federer is looking to become only the sixth man to complete the career grand slam, by finally winning Roland Garros
- Federer currently holds the other three grand slam titles and would be the first to win four in a row since Rod Laver in 1969
- Federer has a twenty-seven match Grand Slam win streak on the line (second to Laver's twenty-nine)
- Nadal currently holds a 5-1 edge over Federer
- Nadal is on the longest clay-court win streak ever with fifty-nine straight wins
- Nadal is perfect at Roland Garros (13-0 in his two years)
- Sunday would be Nadal's 100th clay-court victory as a professional
If you'd like to know a little more before watching...check these resources. I did.
- Tennis.com's preview of the match
- Tennis.com's recap of the semifinal matches
- ESPN.com's preview of the final
- ESPN.com's preview of Federer's Roland Garros quest
- Roland Garros's official by-the-numbers perview of the match
- Pam Shriver's How to Watch the French Open for Beginners article
- Basic info about tennis's Grand Slam tourneys
4 comments:
At least he showed some life at the end...the break in the fourth set to take it to a tie-breaker was a glimmer of hope...
The rivalry between Nadal-Federer is starting to look like that between a hammer and a nail.
Good to see you 'round these parts, though, CMorin...
Nadal's a beast...no denying that, true...
But what McEnroe and Carillo were saying in the first set is true against every other player on the planet. Federer cannot be beaten on a Sunday. When he gets to the championship matches, he's all but unbeatable. Twenty-four finals won in a row until late last year. 7-0 in grand slam finals before today. And he's the best player in tie-breakers. He just seems to play his game until he has to play better, and then he effortlessly raises his game and wins. I think the stat they showed today was 198-6 in the past two years against every player other than Nadal, but he's now 1-6 against Nadal in that time. Phenomenal...
Against Rafael Nadal, however, he seems to play tentatively, nervously, and uncomfortably.
I thought McEnroe's analysis was spot on, though. Federer needs to step in on Nadal's second serve and pressure that. If Federer starts to jump on the second serve, Nadal might start to press on his first serve and not get 74% of them in (which was phenomenal). Federer also needs to slice his backhand when the topspin isn't working. Nadal absolutely killed Federer by hitting over and over to the backhand side. And finally, where Carillo pointed out that Nadal was best on the edges of the courts, Federer should hit to the middle and make Nadal create that angles instead of providing him with opportunities.
I really hope that Federer starts winning some of the Nadal matches because otherwise, he's going to go down in history as a great player with a flaw (as have so many others - McEnroe, Sampras, Lendl, Conners, Wilander, Becker, Edberg). Had Federer won today's match and exorcised that demon, he would be stepping into a pantheon that very few men can claim.
But, yes, Nadal played - after his nerves of the first set - a brilliant match, stepping up when it was necessary.
Good summary of the turning point of the match from ESPN.com...
Nadal is hotter, that's why he wins.
jeesh, it's just that simple...
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