I am more than a little stunned after watching the men’s finals of the French Open. The unstoppable Nadal juggernaut has just steamrolled Federer in three straight sets – the third set read 6-0. Federer, arguably the greatest player ever, won just 4 games in this match. He threw everything he had at Nadal, and Nadal just – cavalierly, casually – brushed off the challenge. I know Nadal is the King of Clay, but I don’t think anyone expected Federer to get such a bruising. And it was brutal. Not sure what effect it will have on Federer psychologically, but it does seem as if Nadal’s vastly improved game might pose a serious challenge to Federer’s dominance on other surfaces, especially Wimbledon. Well, we’ll have to wait and see.
The other interesting aspect to consider is this – has Federer peaked, and is he on the decline? Presumptuous, I know, but 26 is old for international tennis, and in the fitness battle, Nadal is way, way ahead. In fact, even though Djokovic also suffered an equally brutal defeat at the hands of Nadal in the semi-finals, he is probably the only one right now who can take the fight to Nadal. I’m a huge Rafa fan, but I guess a bi-polar world is always better than a uni-polar one!
The Quirky Indian 
June 8, 2008 at 9:30 pm
YAY! Rafa el champo!
June 9, 2008 at 5:43 am
Oh, i didnt get to watch the match. Thank God, i didnt watch it. I couldnt have taken such a beating of Federer 😉
I was hoping that Federer would at least be third time lucky. But looks like the third attempt at finals was his worst.
June 9, 2008 at 10:56 am
Smita – just picked up your book from Crossword….must tell you it was prominently displayed! Will read and tell you what I thought.
Liju – glad you didn’t watch the match. Like I said, I am a Rafa fan, but it hurt me to watch the beating Federer took; I know it’s naive of me to say this, but a great – in every sense of the word – player like him shouldn’t have to suffer a defeat like that.
February 2, 2009 at 1:19 pm
[…] or defeat, one understood the tears of helplessness here; how does he tackle Nadal? I had asked in this post of mine, after Nadal handed him a bagel in the final set of last year’s French Open, if Federer would […]