Heh, that story is both awful and awesome at the same time.
So we get the dream matchup for the finals, Federer and Nadal. I don’t see any way Federer loses with the way he’s been playing, but I’m expecting Nadal to push him to at least four sets.
Both come into the match with impressive streaks: Federer has yet to lose a set, and Nadal has held serve something like 80 straight service games. It should be quite a match.
The Federer semifinal was a snore, but it reminded me of the movie Wimbledon. Anybody see it? The 35 year old journeyman got past Federer to get to the final against the uber-stud young gun. Well, at Wimbledon this year there was a 35 (or so) year old journeyman who would have faced the uber-stud young gun in the final if he had managed to get past Federer. Of course, Roger dismantled him; he put on a friggin’ clinic against that guy. Incidentally, “getting past Federer” was the biggest issue I had in suspending my disbelief during that wretched movie.
The Nadal Baghdatis semifinal was spectacular, despite Nadal winning in straight sets and never being broken. The first set was all Nadal, but that second set was chock full of some of the finest tennis I recall seeing. Winner after winner. Power shots, touch drop shots, net play, prolonged rallies; that set had it all. Baghdatis has now knocked Andy Roddick out of the top 10 in the rankings, which is much deserved both ways. Baghdatis is the #3 player in the world, IMO, and Roddick is nowhere near the top 10.
On a tagent, I mentioned above that Baghdatis had a hot girlfriend. I don’t know who that was sitting next to his mother in the stands this tournament; if it was his girlfriend, she’s gone seriously downhill. I don’t think it was her, though, as she looked every bit as hot at the French last month as she did at the Australian Open. Just wanted to set the record straight on that.
I think the worm has finally turned. Ever since the late nineties, when Sampras and Agassi were approaching their career twilight and the Williams sisters owned the finals, conventional wisdom held that the women’s tour was a bigger draw than the men’s. Hell, just recently here in the thread about how women get less prize money at Wimbledon, the fact that the women’s tour is a bigger draw was cited as one reason the prize disparity was particularly unfair.
But not any longer. Now that Federer has a true rival in the form of Rafa Nadal, and the Williams sisters are busy doing everything except tennis, there is no doubt in my mind that the men’s tour is the bigger draw. Does anybody think the Henin-Hardenne vs Mauresmo final will outdraw Federer vs Nadal? They say that greatness is measured by your rival, so it was tough to gauge Federer’s greatness during the years when he was laying waste to the field. He is no longer lacking in a rival of superlative ability.
The other big dig against the men’s tour is that in addition to not having any stars or major rivalry, the game is a boring power-ball ace-fest. That is also a thing of the past at the elite levels. The pure power players like Roddick don’t stand a chance against the up-and-comers of current-day tennis. Today, the best of the best are guys like Lleyton Hewitt, Marcos Baghdatis, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. These guys play technique and defense. Extended rallies, net play, drop shots and precision placement dominate the sport.
Welcome to the resurgence of the ATP.
