Monday, July 9, 2007

For those of you waiting for a First Half of the MLB Season Winners, Losers, most worthless person, whatever, you're going to have to wait.

For today, you can imagine what I am going to preach at you about. In fact, if you don't know, you don't come around here very often. If you do and don't know, then you really haven't taken much from my aforementioned bulletin board concept.

Boys and Girls, the question is...did you get up yesterday morning for Breakfast at Wimbledon? I am going to assume that there is at least one person reading today who didn't. And for the rest of you, you have to suffer because of that one person who didn't. Because that person is a moron. MORON.

I haven't gone back to count, but I have written about the whole Federer thing, the Federer/Nadal thing plenty of times before. If you keep coming back to read, then something must be clicking. Well, if you didn't watch yesterday, nothing's clicking above your neck.

This was, one of the greatest matches I have ever seen. The Sampras/Agassi US Open was amazing but so too was yesterday's Wimbledon Gentleman's Singles Final. After Nadal fell down a break in the first, he fought back to force a tiebreak, won by Federer. The two great players split the next two sets and as Federer was getting more and more frustrated by the ridiculous and unnecessary Hawkeye electronic scoring system, Nadal was commanding the match with a 6-2 victory in the fourth set.

Throughout the entire match, Nadal seemed to have a shot for everything. I don't know what the stats ended up being, but seemingly every time Roger came to the net, Rafa had a blistering passing shot that Roger was no where close to.

Add all of Nadal's answers to Federer's technological frustration and mid-way through the fourth, Nadal seemed to be in command. Then he needed treatment for his right knee. The stoppage of play gave Federer a bit of time to re-group and though he lost the fourth set, he came out like a man on a mission in the fifth. Nadal, continued to put together unbelievable shots and his knee seemed to not faze him as he still played as hard as ever.

But in the end, Federer, the great champion, could still put it into another gear with the game on the line like we have seen so many great ones in other sports do. Up 5-2 in the fifth, in the longest game in the match on Nadal's serve, we could all see the Federer wanted to end the match with one swing. His return of Nadal's second serve was huge, but not perfect. After a few solid ground strokes Nadal forced up a desperation lob which Federer smashed to secure is fifth consecutive Wimbledon title.

For a moment, I'll get away from Federer's greatness. After the match, Nadal was absolutely exhausted. Nadal plays tennis the way Darrin Erstad plays baseball. Balls to the wall at all times, giving everything he possibly has on every point regardless the potential outcome. This is why we love watching Nadal. This is why we loved watching Erstad in Anaheim. And in Lincoln...he still is Nebraska's all time leading punter. But Nadal is the hardest working man in tennis, if not all of sports. He plays with an unrivaled passion, great will and heart. Oh, and not to mention, he's got some talent too. The level to which he pushes his opponents physically and mentally is amazing. The fact that Federer still has a losing record against him, is too a little amazing.

We will see at the US Open. Nadal isn't great on the speedy hard courts. He can't slide and dive and sit down to still hit winners like he can on grass and clay. Federer is alright on the hard stuff I would say. It's going to be interesting to see if Nadal can make a good run in New York because I think we all know Roger will. Keep in mind, Roger didn't play his best yesterday. We've seen him play better, play better against Nadal. I think Roger at the French played better in the final than he played yesterday.

But like the great ones, he kicked it into gear when he had to. He can dig deep and find that something extra that no one has. Nadal doesn't have it yet. He may some day, but not yet.

Watching truly great athletes is something not everyone appreciates, but they should. And if you're in fact that one guy. Start.

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