Three major stories stood out for me as I obsessively watched and followed The Men’s Wimbledon championship this year. First and foremost (perhaps because I am a Nadal fanatic and because I feel like my dad and I “discovered” him and he is thus always “our guy”) was Rafa’s winning his second “ French-Wimby double,” and definitively re-asserting himself as number one in the world.
Number two was Fed’s second straight major of not reaching the Semis after making 23 in a row. I look at his 23 SEMIS in a row record as uncatchable as Dimaggio’s 56 game hitting streak in baseball. No one touches either of those.
And of course the third major story was the Isner-Mahut 70-68 in the fifth marathon. In a completely different way, their record is just as amazing as Fed’s, and will go unchallenged forever. It PISSED me off to hear sports fans using this match as a reason as to why they need to play fifth set tie breaks at Wimby as they do in the U.S. Open. First of all, how many matches do you see going 70-68 again in the future? Secondly, if they had played a tie-break, how much would we fans have missed out on? How many non-tennis fans would know John Isner?
But we all know The Maestro, Roger, and even though I have rooted staunchly against him these last 6 years, I can’t help but be in awe with respect and admiration for the guy. I believe I have rooted so passionately against Fed in large part because of my love for Nadal, but also because, as much as I treasure and value true greatness, I was getting bored with his utter dominance. Let’s be honest, after a while you have to root against the Yankees, or the Lakers. Heck, wasn’t one of the pleasures of electing Obama that he wasn’t part of the Bush or Clinton dynasty for God’s sake? Dynasties get old after a while!
But despite my cheering for his demise, I have been in utter amazement of his performance these past 7 years. When I think about how strong and deep the men’s game is, where almost any guy on a the right day can take you down, just how small the margins are, how easy it is to get hurt or have an off day, I am truly amazed by what Roger has done, particularly in majors.
I am going to be BOLD, though. I am announcing right now Fed he NEVER wins another major again and will never get back to number one.
I have learned to never count Fed out, however, and it wouldn’t be the biggest shock of my life to see him again on the final Sunday in New York. I would love nothing more than to see another Roger-Rafa epic on the final day in early September.
How good would that be?
And speaking of as good as it gets, watching Rafa fall to grass in celebration again was extra gratifying for me (as I could tell it was for him), given the year he had last season. It was heart-breaking in 2009 to see him not be able defend his 2008 title and then to witness him struggle all year with his knees. Couple that with the split of his parents, and to me it is a sign of Rafa’s tremendous resilience that he is able to climb to top of the tennis world.
To me, Rafa represents everything great about this sport—tenacity, class, respect for the game and others, unbelievable work ethic, humility, and ridiculous mental and physical toughness. He is an animal. A Beast.
All I need to see to know everything about Rafa is how he plays break points AGAINST him, and how he can recover from his double fault at 5-5 in the second set breaker in the semi’s against Murray. 99 guys out of 100 hang their head there, let the next point slide by and move on to the next set.
Not Rafa. No, instead he plays his strongest point of the entire set, wins it, wins the breaker, crushes Murray’s will, and takes the match in 3 straight sets. I couldn’t help but think of that very point as I teared up while I watched him clutch that trophy again.
How he played that next point after his double means everything.
That one point is tennis. That point is sports. Okay…hell, I am going to say it: that point is life. We all double fault at a big moment in the second set tiebreaker. We’re human, we just do. The question is simply: what do we do next? Tank the rest of the breaker and lose the match. Cry and blame our coach or the wind?
Or..just maybe..crank a gutsy wide forehand and follow it up with a backhand cross-court volley winner?
That’s what Rafa did.
Wow.
AD OUT…
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