At last.
Roland Garros.
Never has a tournament been so eagerly expected and carried so much potential promise.
This time last year Novak Djokovic was on a winning Streak, not having lost a single match in the entire year up to this point.
Looking back it sure was mad, madder by the day, in fact.
Then came the Fognini, then the semi-final.
What a match that was:
so much intense passion, some of us are still recovering.
Forget about the fabricated Fedal 2008 Wimbledon final hype - this was the Match of the decade (at least): it had the tennis, the drama, the meaty, full-blooded rivalry, the Dream, The Finger, the end of the Dream. The Crowd.
The rest of the season followed, Novak won Wimbledon, became number One, won USO. Federer took the end of the year. Nadal simmered and hatched plans. Murray kept working. The Rest kept being the rest.
2012 brought the longest final in history, Nole prevailed.
Federer still kept going, Nadal still simmered and kept muscling through, Murray kept working somehow with less conviction. The Rest making sure they kept in touch.
Finally, the heart of the season is at hand, the promise of historic Glory; it feels like the last few months were just something that had to be put up with.
The year is still young with 3 slams available for grabs, plus the Olympic Games.
Roland Garros is the pivotal one which will potentially unlock the rest of the season, on which a lot turns. Or it does not.
If Novak Djokovic wins it, he will be unstoppable for a while.
If Nadal wins it, he will put Djokovic on the back foot and make the rest of the season even more interesting.
If Federer wins...now this sounds a bit less likely, so I'll leave the answer to others.
For somebody French Open 2012 will be The Beginning, for some The End and for some The Crossroads.
At the moment, we have a few days of expecting and hoping, the sweet promise of a Dream coming true.
GO NOLEEEEEEEE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLp_Hh6DKWc
RG: The Beginning, The End, The Crossroads
posted on 23/5/12
"No way - that Federer - Djokovic match was great but a little over-rated. Their US Open match was pretty special as well and sorry but Wimbledon 2008 was in a different league."
I feel the complete opposite!
BTW, why was that 2008 Wimber final in a different league?
I know it was Wimbledon and all the palaver and vintage glam, still, it had nothing on last year's RG for me.
posted on 23/5/12
Each to his own eh? The quality of tennis in 2008 Wimbledon was very high, a lot was at stake, the atmosphere was unbelievable, it was more dramatic and a tighter finish, it was just the moment when 2 champions at their peak would play each other ..a real changing of the guard moment. It had the 2 unbelievable winners in the tiebreak, the bulbs in the fading light. It was really quite awesome.
The only match I've seen that comes close is AO09.
The Federer-Nadal rivalry was better in those days. Nowadays either Federer dominates from the start and wins easily OR Federer plays poorly and loses OR Federer starts well and then falls apart. In 2006-2009 their matches were more compelling with more ebb and flow.
posted on 23/5/12
I suppose, I'll never b e able to properly like any of those classic matches mainly because Nadal played in them.
His tennis is a genuine turn-off for me.
I'm not going to go into details again, but that's how it is.
I much prefer Djokovic Federer match-up, there's a lot more proper rivalry there, and the two of them are genuine changing of the guard contestants.
Nadal is something in between, more like a clay prodigy that managed to weave himself into the rest of surfaces due to homogenisation of playing conditions.
posted on 24/5/12
nitb wrote:
His tennis is a genuine turn-off for me.
------------
I do not know whether I would go that far but I can see what you mean. In the end, all he does is soak everything the opponent has to throw at him and then go up a gear and crush him. Right?
posted on 24/5/12
Let's face it, be it W07, W08, AO09, semi FO11, semi USO11 the one making it look like a great match is Federer. He is the common factor to all those great matches. Unfortuantely he tends to tire towards the end of most and ends up losing.
========================
"His tennis is a genuine turn-off for me."
==========================
A bit like Borg. Was a great fan of his but noone really talks about Borg's great shots nowadays. Great footwork certainly but his shots were certainly not the best back then either. Nadal has even much worse shots, anyone with a bit of objectivity watching him play on clay can see how poor yet powerful his shots are. Yes he has a couple good touch shot per match but those ar 2 points out of the 150 played. The fans will remember those but the others can see the ugly rest.
posted on 24/5/12
"Yes he has a couple good touch shot per match but those ar 2 points out of the 150 played."
that's how I see it, as well. When I first saw him live (in O2 2010 final vs Fed), there was literally one shot.
I'll give him one thing and that is the way he moves around the court, his speed is phenomenal but not laboured looking like Murray's.
Some people rave about his forehand, I can't stand it, it's the ugliest shot I've seen in a long time.
Tennis has to be beautiful for me to enjoy it. some polaeyrs are more elegant than the others but they all have something I like and enjoy.
With Nadal, I like the way he moves, but everything else is so off-putting, it's not worth it....
posted on 24/5/12
I'll give him one thing and that is the way he moves around the court, his speed is phenomenal but not laboured looking like Murray's.
================================
I don't find his footwork pretty nice to watch either. As McEnroe says he pounds the court....others glide. Nadal doesn;t glide. Again, it's all sheer power poorly used....but so much of that power that's it's pretty efficient.
posted on 24/5/12
It's not nice, but it's good, the way he lunges into those sprints with his body stooped, is amazing, he moves like a bullet.
But that's me trying to be "balanced"
posted on 25/5/12
Nitb:
Don't try to get too balanced too quickly. Some of your posts (though not this one) sound like you are preparing yourself for a letdown and an end to the Nole fairy tale. I think a tad too early for that. He may not be stringing many more 40+ match winning streaks, but he is still looking pretty good. Even on this year's results alone, one would give him the best chance to finish the year at #1. Let's see how the rest of the year unfolds - this one could be most competitive in years (and your man could still take it).
posted on 25/5/12
SB....you obviously don't know me