This year Wimbledon Championship (Tennis) Men’s Final was between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, a long waited and well expected match between the world number one and the world number two. Though Federer is the King on grass, Nadal seemed truly believing he could beat the King on his ‘home court’ at Wimbledon.
I knew the match was scheduled on Sunday morning 6:00 US Pacific time, but I wasn’t sure if I was able to get up that early to watch it on TV. After a busy week at work I needed lot of sleep in the weekend and I didn’t feel well starting Friday. But somehow I woke up just in time to have witnessed the historical match from the beginning to the end.
In the first set Federer started a quick 3-0 lead, but Nadal, with a reputation of bull fight, quickly fought back and leveled it up to 3-3. Both played great, moving forward in seesaw, all the way to 6-6. The set went to Federer’s belt, which was decided by a tiebreak.
Nadal went on with his fight in the second set and took the set by breaking Federer on his serve at 4-5.
But again, the third set ended up with Federer’s win, decided by another tiebreak.
In the forth set, Nadal pumped up with his physical strength and deep topspin ground stroke to control longer baseline rallies. He broke Federer twice. At one point Nadal challenged a call on a shot made by Federer. The umpire agreed with Nadal and corrected the call, but Federer challenged the umpire’s overrule in response. The Hawk-Eye system showed the ball was barely out. Out of frustration, Federer complained to the umpire about the video system, motioning the ‘Stupid’ system should never have been implemented in the first place. He also started to show negative reactions he normally wouldn’t show, a first sign that he had his doubt in mind whether he would be able to win this match. This clearly indicated how much heat, pressure and goodies Nadal brought up to this match.
However, at a 4-0 lead, Nadal suddenly had an issue with his right knee and asked for medical time out. Obviously he had pushed himself to his physical limit for the first time. Everyone knew Nadal’s game relied heavily on his physical strength and started to worry about the outcome.
Amazingly Nadal went on won the fourth set by 6-2 and continued to push Federer in the beginning of final set to his 15-40 break point twice. But TWICE Federer responded with aces and got away from danger under pressure. Unable to capitalize on Federer’s multiple break chances, Nadal was finally out of gas, both physically and mentally. He eventually lost the decisive set 2 -6.
The emotions Federer showed to the crowd right after he won the last point well told this was the most difficult and challenged match he ever played so far. He sincerely believed Nadal could win the match and was capable of competing with him on any surface. He said during the award ceremony: “He (Nadal) surely will win many down the road, so I better get whatever I can before he gets them all.” What an honest and modest statement from the King of All England Tennis Association.
Federer lost to Nadal at French Open Final in the last two consecutive years. In head-to-head, Nadal beat Federer more than lost, but mostly on clay and hard court. Last year Nadal took Federer at Wimbledon final for four sets but lost. In a close match with five sets this year, the first time Nadal proved he can challenge Federer on the world number one’s favorite surface. Nadal still heavily depended on his heavy topspin to control baseline rallies, but he was no longer afraid of coming to the net and finished points with put-away volleys.
With all that said about Nadal’s strength and fighting spirit, Roger Federer has still been THE most favorite tennis player in my mind, and probably in most tennis fans’ minds too. A champion is champion not only because he can beat his opponent gracefully during his peak performance, but also is capable of getting out of trouble when he is down and under pressure. People might think if Nadal were not injured he could have won the match, a statement few people would want to argue with. But we should also not forget it was Roger Federer who made Nadal push to his limit and used up his physical reserves. It is Federer’s game that is more complete, artistic, efficient, more versatile and entertaining. In way of dancing around the court he made it all seem too easy to everyone. He is mentally strong, strong enough to recover quickly from his lows, which leaves his opponents a slim window of opportunities.
In addition to his superb tennis, Federer’s gentlemenship and sportsmanship are way standing out in history. We all witnessed bad behaviors when a competition was heated up or went to ugly, whether at the top professional level or at any recreational level, where every non-tennis effort could be explored to make the opponents feel discomfort and to win a match. But nothing from Roger Federer. Federer is not perfect; he has his human being side too. He would show his frustration from time to time, but his negative reactions, if any, never meant to disturb his opponents.
Having experienced intense competition in USTA (US Tennis Association) adult league myself, I fully understand keeping both competitive and gentlemanlike on tennis court is difficult. Federer has set up a perfect role model for all of us, in professional level or non-professional level, in tennis or non-tennis, for the generations to come.
