French Open: The Warrior

Coming into today’s Men’s final at Roland Garros, the two combatants, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, were pursuing their own versions of history. Federer hadn’t lost a match in a major (don’t call it a Grand Slam or Bud Collins will spank you) since last year’s semifinal defeat at the hands of Nadal. With a win in the final, Federer would hold all four majors at one time, thus completing a “Roger Slam”. He would also capture the first 2 legs of the Grand Slam in this calendar year.

Federer’s record in Grand Slam finals was a remarkable 7-0 prior to today and not only was Roger going for his first French Open title, he would also surpass the half-way mark to Pete Sampras’ record 14 Grand Slam titles.

The man from Mallorca had a fairly impressive streak of finals victories entering today’s final – 13-0 in his last thirteen finals including 3 over the Mighty Fed this year. He was also trying to become the first man to defend his title at Roland Garros since Gustavo Kuerten did that in 2001. Nadal’s consecutive clay court win streak has been well publicized over the last two weeks with the eclipsing of Guillermo Vilas’ record of 53 match wins. The streak stood at 59 this morning. This evening it stands at 60.

There are several words that one could use to describe Rafa Nadal: tough, competitive, relentless, mature, physical, intimidating, exciting, enthusiastic. If we could use one word to sum the man up, it would be warrior. The man never gives up and in a sport that is “mano a mano”, he seldom comes out on the short side of the ledger. Today’s match was no different.

Nadal got off to a shaky start in the first set going down grimly at 6-1. Federer appeared to be in command at that point, but he let the match slip away early in the second set and seemingly, he never recovered his form. That small opening was all Nadal needed to get himself in the match and he slowly began to raise his level of play.

Meanwhile, Federer didn’t seem to be using the same game plan that he had employed effectively in Rome when he pounded Rafa’s backhand and ventured into the net dozens of times. Today, Roger appeared content to play a more traditional clay court style, rallying with Nadal from the baseline for the majority of the match. In the post-match interview with Bud Collins, Federer stated that the court in Paris was much slower than the one in Rome and therefore he found it harder to attack in the same manner.

The choice not to attack appeared to be Federer’s undoing. There was little chance of success over the course of a best of five set match against El Rey del Clay. In terms of quality of tennis, this might have been their worst played encounter of the four meetings this year, but with everything riding on this one, that’s somewhat understandable. Nerves certainly played a part and Federer admitted that the heat was also a factor.

As for Nadal, his streaks of victories on clay and in finals live on, as does his mastery over the world’s number one player. The brief grass court season will probably bring Rafa’s results back down to earth, but things should get interesting on the tour in mid-July when everyone hits the hardcourts in preparation for the US Open. Future encounters between these two will be the intrigue for the rest of the summer.