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by Philipina A. Marcelo
And so, fresh from "winning ugly" against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in their three-setter encounter last weekend, El Maestro demolished the Spanish Matador, 6-3, 6-0, at the Barclays ATP World Tours Finals in London. You can say that again, the most awaited encounter between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at the O2 Arena didn't turn out to be a nail-biting event. Instead, it did turn out to
Win #2, and into the semi-finals. Roger that!be an exhibition of the "old" Federer breathtaking genius on court... except that it was at the expense of his biggest rival - the warrior from Majorca. RF was going for a kill right from the first set, which he took without much resistance from the other end of the court. And Nadal can't seem to recover from the mighty hiccups that was choking him in the first set, cannot mount a comeback in the second set. Relentless RF didn't give him a chance either, taking the set with a murderous scoreline, 6-0... and winning the match in a little more than just one hour! Oy! But as Nadal said, the world doesn't stop turning today that he got defeated by RF, or something along that line. Sure, sure... 'game on' then! :)
Of course, RF's brilliant performance against Nadal a few hours ago is reminiscent of his dominance of men's tennis in the previous decade. Then again, we, RF fans know that once he decides to take his tennis to high gear, there is no stopping him... especially in non-Grand Slam tours where age-related stamina is hardly a factor. He hasn't lost his incredible touch, even when world ranking suggests that. It's just a matter of deciding that he wants all the numbers that match his genius... or nothing at all.
Uhm, is that Team Djokovic scampering for last-minute anti-RF strategy there? Well, good luck to them! :)
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