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by Philipina A. Marcelo
And so, old foes, the King of Clay and the King of Grass, were set to battle each other again at Court Philippe Chatrier before a capacity crowd! The stakes: that beautiful La Coupe des Mousquetaires, more than a million euros... and some distinctive places of greatness!
Whenever Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal face each other from the opposite sides of the net - on whatever surface - some place of honor in men's tennis history or a place of distinction in tennis book of records is always at stake. Such is the greatness of this two... such is the
The King of Clay and the King of Grass rekindle
the fire of their legendary rivalry in the center
stage of Roland Garros.intensity of their rivalry, and such is the awesomeness of their distinctive careers!
The stress of staying at the very top had been proving costly for both. Many a pundits have been writing El Maestro off eversince he slid to No. 2, and then later No. 3 in the World... and with logical reasons as well. The King of Clay had been looking "all frail" in his own kingdom, "just survived" a first-round fierce challenge from the unseeded American John Isner. And yet, these two, Rafa and RF, persist... and they continue to dominate! Many have already tried - very hard - to topple these two from the place of greatness in men's tennis over the past decade
Novak Djokovic (left) and Andy
Murray (right). How much longer? or so. British No. 1, Andy Murray, while able to maintain his prestigious seat behind RF and Rafa despite the tough competition in men's tennis today, he continues to pale pitifully in comparison when playing opposite either these two. Novak Djokovic, with all his incredible achievements, especially over the past six months or so, amassing title after title in the ATP tour, and arriving in Roland Garros as this fearsome and invincible player from out of this world, threatening to bump aside Rafa Nadal from the No. 1 in the World spot, was once again rendered an "outsider" as Rafa and RF reclaimed the center stage in the magnificent clay court in the City of Lights!
Once again, the world holds its breath as it awaits the settling of the red dust in Roland Garros, after the tussle between these two tennis greats... and see who prevails.
***
First Set: RF up, Rafa down. Clay powder flew, and it went the other way
RF opened the set, and the championship match, with a great serve, followed by another one, and then did a serve-and-volley. Before long, he took
Familiar scene... always irresistible.his service game with a flourish. Rafa tried to equalize, but RF was too hot to handle... and, in a flash, with an incredible variety of shots, RF broke the King of Clay's serve. The Swiss Maestro took an early lead, 2-0.
The next six games saw the old majestic RF... dancing fluidly on the clay, hitting winner after winner from creative angles - too beautiful! He was totally in the zone, firing elegant but blisteringly powerful shots that Rafa Nadal didn't have answers to. And Rafa, struggled to hold on his service games, looking tentative, calculating his counter-attack, measuring RF's fluid brilliance until the score went 5-2. On Rafa's serve, he struggled to hold off RF, who was knocking loudly on the door to take the set, taking the game to deuce. Soon, Federer had a set point. And then he hit a forehand just a few millimeters wide... RF contested the call, the umpire gave the point to Rafa - back to deuce. Eventually, Nadal held serve, 5-3. And that proved to be the turning point in the set... and in the match.
And then, on the ninth game, with RF serving for the set, Rafa put on his King of Clay stance... there were fantastic mini rallies. Rafa
Fluid shotmaking of majestic beauty by El Maestro.moved RF around, forcing Roger to hit a forehand on the run, and then RF narrowly missed a backhand from a punishing return from Rafa, 30-30. RF looked shaken, netted a return - breakpoint for Rafa. But RF gathered himself and started a fantastic mini rally, with him in command, until he netted a simple drop shot - Rafa broke RF's serve, taking the score to 5-4. Rafa held his serve, containing Roger's resistance, going on a seesaw of points... before long, Roger was looking deflated. All of a sudden, RF's game was in disarray, allowing Rafa to hold serve at 5-5.
On the 11th game, Rafa went on an early assault, stealing the first two points, but RF righted things for himself with two consecutive big serves,
The King of Clay, fighting back - to win at all costs.30-30. Once again, Rafa moved Federer and took advantage of RF's weak backhand assault in a mini rally, and stole a set point! But RF quickly saved with an ace. It looked like RF would be able to hold, until his serve and volley was figured out by Rafa, and Rafa broke - for the second time! It was 6-5 for Rafa. Nadal's next service game left many breathless, as the two went on points seesaw... until Roger hit two - out - consecutively, giving the set to Rafa!
Yeah, I know... whew! I'm a big Roger Federer fan, and an admirer of Rafa Nadal's huge courage on court. After following these two for the past decade or so, I know that the pure genius, almost unbeatable RF slid to a different personality... when he is on an early lead, there is a big chance that he will persist until the very end, no matter how difficult. Lately, he's been needing a cushion to bounce back from when the going gets tough. On the other hand, when Rafa Nadal loses early points, he will always try to figure out a way to get back into the game - one point at a time - patiently, persistently, valiantly. Sometimes, Rafa would even will himself to keep fighting by celebrating hard-earned points loudly and passionately, even when he was still several points down... and that kills some fight from the other side of the net. Therefore, with how the first set was played and its outcome, it felt like I knew how this would end, and I was tempted to get to bed early. :) Besides, I'm still on the "recovery road", not yet "home". :) However, RF's performance against Novak Djokovic in the semi-final made me stick around... 'cause that was how the old RF, the "real RF" used to play! Will he turn up in this match? It was enough for me to stick around.
***
The King of Clay on ferocious attack, El Maestro subdued
Roger Federer opened the set... and the next scene was not very surprising. Rafa Nadal won the first two points on RF's serve easily! And why shouldn't he, he was all fired up, while Roger was so deflated, he looked like he was slipping to disinterest. Grrr, Roger! And, after RF netted a slam, it was break point for Rafa Nadal! I was dying, of course! An unforced error from Rafa allowed me to regain my breath... and then Roger gave away a mini rally, and the game to Rafa!
RF... deflated, but figuring out a way back.
If that wasn't shocking enough, how about this... Rafa's next service game was uncontested. He won all points straight and took the set to 2-0 - for Rafa. Ugh! In the next five games, both men held their serves and the set was at 4-3, to Rafa, after RF's serve. In Rafa's next service game, RF took a deep breath, dug deep in his shots kit and found something. All of a sudden, he had a break point, and he finished it outrageously, taking the set to 4-4! Hah, the man is incredible, seriously! The King of Clay reasserted himself, taking three breakpoints from RF... and connecting, taking the set to 5-4... for himself. Rafa, for his part, then willed himself to win his service game, but RF persisted and won't go away, forcing a deuce! Ooops, rain delay! Ugh!
When the match resumed, RF figured that while Roland Garros was not his
Rafa Nadal... fired up!turf, he is not El Maestro of tennis for nothing! Therefore, he should gather himself, conduct this match and teach this little Mallorcan warrior some lessons... two short points later, boom! The set was at 5-5 even! Whew! The two men then held serves, taking the set to 6-6... tie-breaker then. Naturally, it was hard for me to go though it! Dang! This men are horrible like this. And then, there's Federer uncharacteristically throwing away four precious points! What the...???? And then, Nadal earned a crucial point that took the tie-breaker to 6-2! Dang! Before you know it, ladyluck was smiling at Rafa Nadal's direction... giving him a 7-3 win in the tie-breaker, and 2 sets to nothing advantage.
***
El Maestro in concierto... and he's back in the game!
The first two sets, especialy the first one, should've gone to Roger Federer's way had he not allowed himself to slip to disinterest. The
RF, digging deep, and finding
some "old friends" - killer shots.problem is, Nadal can tell when Roger does this, and he takes advantage. Of course, all is fair in love and war! But this is tennis!
And so, I watched El Maestro going two sets down at 4-2... ugh! And then, once again... out of sheer brilliance and fantastic shotmaking, he hauled himself back from the dead, and took the set to 6-5 - to his favor! Next was his service game... finally, those crazy big serves that came and went... well, they went hiding when they were needed in most of this match, actually, like in the second set for instance. But not this time, RF willed them to stay, and they did! He took the set, 7-5! Brilliant? Roger that!
***
But the King will be King!
It was great to see RF regaining composure to comeback in the second set, but he let too many points slip in the opening games, and he paid the
Rafa Nadal (left) defended his seat, both as the
King of Clay and the No. 1 in the World. Roger
Federer (right) awaits his own time, out there
where "the grass is green".price in the end. It's never possible to beat RF... it's only possible to force him to defeat himself. Rafa knows this, and he knows the "secret formula" that makes Roger lose interest in a match. Novak Djokovic thought he's already learned it as well... he found out otherwise in their semi-final encounter. But, yeah, it was awesome though to see RF win the third set in this championship match... the way the legendary Roger Federer of 2002-2007 used to play! But 2011 in Roland Garros was to be Rafael Nadal's year... it's written in the stars, even RF seemed to acknowledge that. And, so the King of Clay remained King... and No. 1 in the World, too! And he equaled the Great Bjorn Borg's record of six French Open titles... and it was an awesome feat - that's for sure!
And, oh, oh, oh... my clay money is intact as well! :)
***
Photo credit: All photos were grabbed from the Zimbio website - thanks! :)
