“God, it’s killing me”, the great man said and my heart broke. Roger pats Rafa as he walks past to collect his trophy. Just when my mind coaxes me to get angry at the man responsible for causing this pain, he goes around and puts his arm around Roger. Aaaah ... Damn.. shame on me. My heart melts, Sportsmanship was the clear winner. Two Gentlemen at their finest behavior.
One Spanish bull and the other a Swiss velvet sledgehammer. Contrasting tennis players on court, but off it, completely similar. Humble & Gracious both in victory & defeat. Roger set the standards and i'm proud that Rafa has followed in his footsteps. I don't think I've seen nicer guys than them in the entire planet and these 2 champs are supposed to be fierce rivals. They are definite role models for ordinary humans like us who go overboard after every one of their classic encounters.
Well, it was a roller coaster ride. I hope to see few more days of tennis like this when im alive. If the Wimbledon final was out this planet, then this one was out of this universe. Rafa nadal, with nerves & legs of steel, simply was the tougher one. There are no adjectives to describe the sheer desire of this man to beat the best, that's why sport is played. Roger's done it before and now the youngster has.
Looking back at the game, rafa converted roger's winners to his and federer's serve let him down the entire match. The quality of groundstrokes was pure magic, unhuman almost.
Rafa has grown as a tennis player, from the mud of Paris to the grass of London to Melbourne's synthetic turf, he has done it in less than a year. He is at the peak of his powers, both physically and mentally and i hope he sustains this level to achieve greatness over the next few years.
Roger may not be the supreme force he was a few years back but has a goal to achieve this year. The champion that he is, i'm sure he will. His tears today showed how much the game means to him, hell he even cries when he wins (check out the last link at the bottom). Many might not give him a chance at the French, but i genuinely believe he can. Will Nadal be there to stop him again. What are the odds i say :-)
Go Roger , Go Rafa , I love your tennis, I love your sportsmanship , I love being alive to watch it !!!
I just wish i was playing sport.
Federer cries in defeat and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ3-pLYHCNw&feature=related
in victory.
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=72lhUIp2GUw&feature=related
7 comments:
Nice blog...
But I disagree with you when you say Roger has set the standards and Nadal is following in his footsteps. I guess Nadal himself is a great player who never followed in anybody else' shadows and he is out there to rewrite the standards.
But really great sportsmanship as you mentioned from both guys.
Thanks Shubha. Standards set by Roger referred to his off court humility, which Rafa is following. It's easy for a young player to go overboard if the champion before him is brash. These 2 guys are fantastic ambassadors of the game.
nice post man. Being a federrer fan my hear goes out for him. Its not nadal who won. If you see the errors fed made, i'll rather say he lost it himself.
*hear -> heart
Good post...."Just when my mind coaxes me to get angry at the man responsible for causing this pain, he goes around and puts his arm around Roger. Aaaah ... Damn.. shame on me. My heart melts, Sportsmanship was the clear winner.".... you wont believe it... but i kinda figured both these scenarios would have happened with you... :).. probably i know you too well... anyway the match was awesome.. both these players take tennis to a different level... the last wimbeldon and this year again... they literally force people to watch tennis... my sister who doesnt even watch india playing world cup final was actually watching this match... even i was shocked... she doesnt know the rules but still she was cheering federer... but i really hope this rivalry goes on for long... i think every match they play can be considered a classic.. :)
Good one..I am sure Rafa bowled u over with his humility.. A new era has begun and the bull has truly arrived and how?!
Comin to the event itself..It has been one of the best night outs that I have done (far better than the ones for my exams!!) Both these guys raised the bar and made viewing a pleasure..I am a big Nadal fan, so the end result was also very very satisfying..
@Roger-- Mate u have been a champion for so many years now.. U have been an epitome of grace and perfect conduct..For the champion that u are, u owe us better conduct than yesterday.. Kids idolizing u should not think crying on court is right.Thats not ur legacy...Emotions are fine, but the fine line that was so wonderfully maintained earlier was crossed yesterday.. U made Rafa almost feel sorry for what he did and that to me hurt the most..
@Rafa-- U respect Roger the same as all of us tennis fans do.And that is most heartening..We couldnt have imagined that we would get a more humble champion so soon after Roger..
Thanks to both these champions for making tennis a passion to many once more..
Thanks Ravi. Yeah disappointing that Fed didn't fight more in the 5th set. But nadal has to get a lot of credit , coz he frustrated Fed into doing that. He won the battle of the minds.
Thanks Shetty.. hehehehehehe.. yeah i did get angry at nadal for a few seconds, but it's hard to hate him for long.
Sac junior.. Thanks. But i cant help but disagree strongly when you say "Fed owed us better conduct than yesterday". Your interpretation of his crying is like making a mountain out of a molehill. He has cried as badly when he won many times. That's specifically why I've put the Aus 06 video link at the end of my blog. You didn't say anything about kids idolizing him then. Agassi cried when he lost his last match. John Terry cried inconsolably when he missed a penalty against MU to lose the Champions league. Nobody complains. It's just the passion and emotion involved in their dear sport that comes out when they feel they let down their fans or team. In Fed's case it prolly was the fact that he didn't fight the 5th set, with 5 legends watching. Absolutely nothing wrong. It just shows how much putting up a good performance means to him. Federer was extremely gracious in defeat and never took the focus away from nadal's moment of glory. If you look back at the footage of the last 3 grand slam finals fed lost, nadal has always said "sorry" out of genuine respect (even when fed didn't cry) Why it "hurt" you this time, when it didn't hurt Rafa himself is something to think about :-)
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