7th July, 2008
Wimbledon 2008 Finals: Just unbelievable.
What a truly unbelievable Wimbledon Final. First, five-time champ Roger Federer (yes, that’s five titles in five straight years) LOST the chance to break tennis legend Bjorn Borg’s record wins — now they’re tied for five consecutive wins, the most for any gentleman’s tennis champion. But the fact that he lost it to his “nemesis on clay” (to quote Star Sports commentator and former tennis player Vijay Singh) Rafael Nadal just made things seem more surreal.
Yes, that handsome young Spaniard four years the Swiss’ junior, informally dubbed as the King of Clay, finally broke the curse against him and the grass surface. He’s been up against Roger before in Wimbledon matches, and predictably, lost. Federer’s the master of grass, but clay is Rafa’s turf. And people were happy to leave it at that.
That was precisely this is why Rafa’s victory wasn’t exactly an outcome I could find myself rejoicing over. Partly because I am a fan of both players, and when they’re up against each other it was so hard to choose a side to root for — but mostly because Nadal’s win just disrupted the entire balance of the long-accepted truth of tennisdom. Don’t get me wrong, I myself am a big fan of Rafael Nadal (and his bottomless source of energy; he’s just such a raging bull on the court!) — but why couldn’t he have won next year, so Roger could have at least broken Borg’s record? :P
Permalink | Posted at 5:54 pm | Comments (10)
16th April, 2008
Tennis star bleeds from his own racket
I like to think I understand men’s singles tennis players very well, tennis being the only sport I’ve appreciated religiously followed for years. It doesn’t escape me that quite a number of tennis players tend to be hotheaded. It may be because they’re all alone in the court and they have to psych themselves up by themselves (without team members or a coach), so they tend to talk to themselves a lot, fight with the umpire, snap at distracting audience members, and throw tantrums. :P Goes with the “solo sports superstar” image, I’d say.
Youzhny Bleeds in Tennis Tournament
Permalink | Posted at 5:09 am | Comments (2)