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2008-07-09 22:12:00
I hope that all of you got to watch the magnificent final that took place on the lawns of The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club last Sunday. Rafael Nadal ended the Wimbledon reign of Roger Federer in a match that will remain a significant part of tennis history for years to come. I must admit that I never thought that the Mallorcan kid I saw burst onto the tennis scene in 2002 would have any success on grass. Here was yet another Spanish guy who clearly had a game customized for clay court success. When he reached the final two years ago, I blamed it on a good draw. Last year, I blamed it on a strike of luck as Mikhail Youzhny suffered from an injury being two sets to love up and that Nadal faced several opponents who didn’t have any time to regroup from previous matches. Some people claim that his success in 2008 is due to the slower courts, but I’m done with excuses. Rafael Nadal has been the world’s best grass court player this season.
Everything about his game still makes it better on clay. In my opinion, Nadal is just as specialized on clay as several of his countrymen. The major difference is that Nadal is so much better than the rest of the pack on clay that his game even beats them on other surfaces. A player such as Juan Carlos Ferrero was World No. 1 on clay and perhaps considered the tenth best player on other surfaces at his prime. Rafael Nadal is obviously on a completely different level. The 22-year old has been dominating the game completely on clay since three years back and a constant improvement has now seen him challenge for World No. 1 on other surfaces. To win the finest tournament in the world on a surface as far away from clay as possible on the spectrum of surfaces proves what an unbelievable tennis player Rafael Nadal is. He has managed something that has remained a dream to the games two most dominating players during the past 15 years, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer. The 22-year old from Mallorca raised the trophy at Roland Garros on 8 June and only had to wait four weeks for his next Grand Slam title.
To me and most likely a lot of other tennis fans, the final provided an emotional roller coaster. There is always a special sadness when an important winning streak comes to an end. The Center Court at Wimbledon has been Roger Federer’s living room (as famously described by Boris Becker) since July 2003, and the five set loss on Sunday will definitely be a match the Swiss maestro will not be able to shrug off easily. The remaining part of the season will be extremely interesting. Will Federer be able to bounce back and win a fifth consecutive title at Flushing Meadows? Will Nadal be able to keep his amazing summer form going during the American hard court season? Will Djokovic shake up things in the top and get back to the early year form again?
Men’s tennis is more interesting than in years.
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the great Borg said it, "Whoever wins the French Open and Wimbledon back to back is the #1 palyer in the world regardless of the ATP ranking. To top it all, Nadal won the Artois trophy in between. The probability of acheiving such a success is near to impossible... but Rafa did. He's been doing the back to back finals of the RG and WIMBy for 3 years in succession, so its not only this year that he was trying to tell us the glaring FACT that IS here all along. Rafa is not a CLAY specialist.....NADAL IS A COMPLETE TENNIS PLAYER! Finals in hard court Masters series, finals in grass slam, and clay crowns here and there... and to think Rafa is just 22 years young!
agf25agf , 7/12/08 10:36 PM
The headline itself is so insulting on the playr man.. why is he a clay court specialist?? wat exactly do u mean by it?? to know the differences between the 2 check this out
http://13r4v0.blogspot.com/2008/06/difference-between-clayt-and-gras s.html first.. den tell me who is the better one..
just cos ppl like fedrrer doesnt mean he is a better tennis player than others..im nt saying he is bad but i opine that nadal is a step above him..
neilpra , 10/28/08 9:13 PM
agreed..dont think Rafa is only a clay court specialist..he played a great match at Wimbledon..and won Olympics.
janhavi , 10/31/08 2:25 PM
Nobody really knows who he is, but he represents our eyes and ears on the tennis circuit. Every now and then he reports about the latest news, gossip ...
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yes u r absolutely right..nadal is now becoming a great grass court player and his ajdustments on grass were incredible give the amount of timem players have to switch to grass.HE shoterned his backswings ,flatened out his backhand and the forehand aswell and cunningly used the backhand slice and sometimes approached the net confidently.Well dun rafa ,hope u make the same adjustments to the quick decoturf and go deep in the US Open and its series!!!
vamosrafa , 7/10/08 5:34 PM