My diary - July 9th, 2008

It has been 3 days since the men's singles final of Wimbledon. Till now I had not written about the match for a reason. When you like something a lot and you write about it immediately you tend to go overboard in praise. When South Africa chased 434, my first reaction was "Greatest cricket match ever". After two days, it turned to "great batting on a flat track". Same happens if something makes you angry. After the Sydney Test, I compared Ponting with Bill Clinton. After a month, I could see that he was desperate to break Waugh's test win record and actually empathized with him.

Hence I waited some time to post my view on this particular tennis match. My views about it at around 2 AM on Monday was, “The greatest sporting spectacle ever witnessed by me”, “Best example of how to play a game” and so on. Now even at 11.30 P.M. on Wednesday the view has not changed.

It started well enough. Some good long rallies, excellent shots, perfect placement, etc. Something you expect when the two best players of this decade meet in a Grand Slam final. Nadal broke Federer's second service game. First set to Nadal. Nadal has got momentum. He had beaten Federer black and blue in the French Open. Federer may be under a little pressure as he is aiming to surpass Borg's winning streak at Wimbledon. However he is Federer, this is Wimbledon and his serves are virtually zinging the grass court, something which does not happen on clay. See, Federer breaks in the second set. A four set victory for Federer is assumed but wait!! Nadal breaks! Twice!! Two sets for Nadal. Federer getting even more tense. It is at this moment that this match went one level up for me. If the second set had gone to Federer, Nadal would have found it really hard to come back. Also Federer's serve was getting deadlier as each game passed.

The third and fourth sets was when both got really desperate. Desperate in a good way that is. Federer was desperate to get back in the game. Nadal was desperate to close out the match knowing fully well Federer's ability to pull back. And in desperation the tennis quality reached awesome proportions. So awesome that my cricket loving father and reality TV loving mother actually stopped bickering over which channel to watch (Star Cricket or  Zee/Star Plus/Sony) and put on Star Sports where the epic match was being telecast. The shots played were so precise that the quote “there was some chalk flying” was repeated every second point (I am exaggerating, it must have been said every third point). Ashok Amritraj, the voice of Star Sports when tennis is on was so amazed by the play that most of the times he was just laughing with amazement. Alan Wilkins, the jack of all sports commentator was oohing and aahing all the time. However I became convinced that this was a once in a lifetime display when Mcenroe was shown on TV. Here was a man who played one of the greatest finals right here against Borg. And he looked stunned. To bring that expression out of a man who played some great tennis requires a stupendous performance. And he later officially declared the match as "This is the greatest match I've ever seen"

Federer took the third and the fourth via tie breaker. The serve was helping him and his superiority in tie breaks helped him. So did Nadal's nerves. A five set vistory for Federer was assumed. However no tie breaks in the fifth set. 

The fifth set started. The two must have been exhausted. At least now the intensity will come down. However the occasion demanded extra effort. For Federer this would have been his sixth straight Wimbledon. For Nadal this would have been his first Wimbledon and he would have become the first after that Borg (yes, him again!) to win both the French Open and the Wimbledon the same year. The extra effort was well justified and was made as well. It helped that there was a rain break in between the fifth set with the score being 2-2 and deuce. How appropriate for it to rain when it was even stevens. The heavens must have thought it unfair to have a rain break when one had some kind of advantage. Both resumed play refreshed. The shots were still perfect, the rallies long and hard fought. Did I forget to mention the quality of the rallies? How foolish of me. Normally a rally consists of a few good shots and one definite winning shot. Here the rallies consisted of many potential winners which were converted into just good shots by these two heavenly creatures. The angle of some shots was outrageous. Federer's backhand and Nadal's forehand were constantly doing battle carving out one outrageous angle after another with chalk flying everywhere.

Unfortunately I missed the game where Nadal broke for the final time. However I was able to watch the final game. Almost five hours of play had already been clocked. And here are these two playing as if this were the first game. It finally ended and Nadal fell on his back no doubt exhausted. Federer had his head in his hands. Then they both came up to shake hands. The camaraderie they showed in that moment made the match even more perfect. This is how you play. You play as hard as you can, use all your skills and tricks to get the edge but in the end you give your opponent the respect he deserves.

It was a great match and a great advertisement of tennis. And the lights went out minutes after it ended. Someone up there seems to have been watching and did not want it get interrupted.

I am feeling: high