Just when you think Mighty Roger Federer moves a step closer to equal Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slam titles, here comes the spoiler, Rafael Nadal Parera! The 22-year old Spanish showed another classy performance by edging out Federer in 5-set : 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-2 in 4 hours 23 minutes. Not only stretching his record over arch rival to all time 13-6, the win also earns him the sixth time career grand slam title, following last year Wimbledon, and four consecutive years of Roland Garros triumph since 2005.
What Nadal has achieved in age of 22 is phenomenal. While the tennis world has long predicted the emergence of this tennis prodigy some years back, I think pundits didn’t expect that it would be in such a short time, not when Roger Federer seemed unstoppable by dominating the ATP tour in 2004-2006 and considering that Roger, born 1981, still considerably young.
As comparison, Nadal won the first Grand Slam at French Open 2005 (19 years old) and clinched the world number one in October 2008 (22 years old). Roger Federer, on the other hand won the first Grand Slam at Wimbledon 2003 (22 years old) and topped the world ranking in February 2004 (23 years old). It seems that the rivalry between these two players is set to continue, promising an exciting times ahead for professional men tennis competition. The rising of other young tennis player such as Jo Wilfred Tsonga, Gilles Simon and Novak Djokovic further adds fuel to this for sure.
The strength of Nadal in particular is his powerhorse stamina. Having defeated compatriot Verdasco in more than 5 hours and despite having one day less rest compared to Federer, he showed no sign of fatigue at all in the Final match! Well well, it seems that the only way to stop Nadal is by not making unforced errors and pushing him to make errors. Easier said than done! :p
Federer is likely to surpass Sampras’ record, but I reckon Nadal will go further, and set more records, provided that he doesn’t suffer any serious injuries along his career ahead.
Hendro Santoso's Hut 