US Open 2008

I did not follow the last of the slams as intently as I would have liked to. I did get to see one match though. This was the semi-final match between Murray and Nadal. Honestly speaking, I was actually surprised to see Murray there in the first place. I am not a great fan of his play. And I don’t like Nadal that much either. But this match was interesting for two reasons:

1. When I watched Nadal play Murray in the Aussie Open this year, I was really impressed by Murray’s ability to bring a lot more variety into his game against a Nadal who looked very one-dimesional. Murray, unfortunately, lost that match due to injury concerns.
2. These two players met again at Wimbledon this year. This time Murray was totally outclassed by a Nadal who could run down any ball on his side of the court.

Murray started off brilliantly in the semifinal and pretty soon it was evident why he was in the semifinal this year. This might sound dumb, but I think that Murray and Djokovic are the only two players who bring  variety to the table when playing against Nadal. This may not work in their work on grass and clay. But on the hard courts, this is what makes them look so much better.

The limelight was, ofcourse, stolen by Fedex. The champ announced his comeback to form in grand style by winning against Murray in the final.

But I take heart in watching a British player, finally, making it into the finals of Slam after a long long time. I only hope that Murray improves from here and, hopefully, we will see him win at Wimbledon next year.

Vamos Rafa!!

An open letter to Rafael Nadal.

Greetings Rafa,

First up, congratulations on winning the Wimbledon title! It truly was a great match !

Let me be honest with you. I don’t really like you. It is not like I dont like your style of tennis or something, but I somehow feel that you are way too arrogant on occassions. Honestly, after I saw you lose to Jo Wilfred Tsonga at the Australian Open, earlier this year, I thought that your game was too one-dimensional and that you would struggle on grass against Federer. I thought that you would win at Roland Garros but that it would not be a cakewalk like it has been for the last three years. But boy did you prove me wrong. You not only decimated Federer on clay, but by beating him on grass, you have now become only the second player after Bjorn Borg to have won on both clay and grass in the same year.

Fantastic!

I must admit that I wanted to see Federer win last night. I must admit that at the start of the tournament and even midway through the tournament, I , like many others, thought Federer was too strong on grass.

But you stunned everyone ! You made the genius look ordinary. You deserve to be the champion!

Thank you for showing me you full array of wonderful passing shots! Thank you for showing me the best tennis I have ever seen in the 11 years that I have watched this sport, especially that fourth-set tie breaker ! Thank you for adding more spice to what is already a legendary rivalry between you and Federer!

And oh ya, Forget the ATP rankings.  I think everyone, including Federer himself, knows who the world number 1 is at this moment.

Your fan!

Vivek Tulsidas