I am not that big a tennis fan

[azkaisr]

But that Wimbledon Final was one for the Ages.....

 

Kaisr

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Couldn't agree more. Fantastic tennis by two of the sport's all time greats. Nadal is an absolute animal. If he stays healthy, I predict a long period of dominance. I don't think Federer is done yet, he is a magnificent player but I don't think he has the wheels to stay with Raffer for much longer.

[Francois_Dumas]

I AM... and loved the entire tournament. There were some GREAT doubles matches too.... can you spell Bryan Brothers !!?? Wonderful players!

 

But I really would have loved see Roger win his 6th.... I think he deserved it. Not only because he is a magnificent player, but also because he's a gentleman, a great sport and a kind guy!

 

Nadal is a great player too, no doubt, but just not my 'style'.

 

I DO have a new favorite for the coming years though: Gasquet ! Watch that name!

[Redbrick]

Just a great final ......Even MacEnroe said it was the greatest he's seen........Two great players...

BTW Francois, the Bryan twins grew up in our area and played at a local club we belonged to where their dad, Wayne, was the pro..We remember them playing when the racquets were almost as big as they were......

 

 

[Les is more]

We were listening to it on XM on the bikes on our way to Oregon. Man! It was even exciting over the radio!! If you can believe it, they cut away for the BBC news at the most critical point. Then they brought it back just in time for the interviews. AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH

 

Congratulations to Nadal!

[Firefight911]

We watched it here too!! Very exciting game today!!

[Bob Palin]

It's good that the last final before the Roof Disaster was such a great one, pity I missed the last 3 games because I only recorded 7 hours on the DVR

 

Well, that's tennis over for another year, and don't try to tell me that nonsense on clay or hard courts is tennis.

[bakerzdosen]

The match is on ESPN classic tonight FWIW...

[azkaisr]

Wow that is amazing that ESPN will show a NBC match the next day

 

Thanks for the update Matt!

[bakerzdosen]

I went to confirm it on their schedule, and it's not there. With that said, I heard it on Sportscenter last night.

[Bob Palin]

The match is on ESPN classic tonight FWIW...

I only watch sports in HD (nose turned up emoticon missing)

[dogboy11]

I used to be a big Tennis fan ... but not so much any more... that was a great match but, for me, still doesn't go ahead of Borg/McEnroe or Connors/McEnroe back in the early 80s. I know, I am just getting old ... but I really would like to have maybe 1 or 2 tournaments during the year where the current players have to play with wooden, small faced rackets ... then we can see who really is great. Just my useless $.02

 

 

DB

[Bob Palin]

I agree about the players - they are brilliantly talented, amazingly fit and strong and have incredible powers of focus and concentration. But they have almost no on court personality, I miss McEnroe yelling at everybody and Nasty, well, just being himself.

[azkaisr]

"I miss McEnroe yelling at everybody and Nasty, well, just being himself"

 

I "never" would have associated you liking that sort of behavior.

 

 

[John_Hendriksen]

I'm a big fan, mediocre player and an ardent admirer of both players. I loved the match and thought it a remarkable and memorable.

 

Here is some more on the match from tennis writer Don King over at Tennisone.com:

 

From the very first point it was clear that this Wimbledon final was going to be no repeat of the French massacre. Both players came with their games, their bodies, and their spirits intact. Federer seemed himself again back on the grass. He was at home and back on track, with only his own compass to guide him. Nadal was fit and brimming with confidence from his heroic string of victories, like an unstoppable tsunami force. Federer's game is based upon tranquility, emptiness, and a letting go of anything mortal. He goes into a space channeling the spirits of the greats; Laver, Borg, and Sampras - even donning the threads of a bygone era. He removes himself from his play to let an inner rhythm and energy flow like a dance. His strength is his elusiveness, his rejection of anything mortal. Nadal's game is built on his unwavering faith in himself. He wears this belief for all to see by revealing not only his inner strength but making a clear statement to all that he is his own man, beholden to no one and cut from his own cloth. From his iconoclastic attire to his imposing physique Nadal makes this statement with truly convincing confidence, quietly, humbly and without boastfulness, and this makes his statement only more resounding. "I am a warrior to be taken seriously." Federer's reply, like an Aikido master, is neither to fear him nor fight him but to dance with him. Both players are bound together with a common love and dedication for what they do and a mutual respect for how they do it.

 

The match was umpired more by nature than by a chair. The players played the game as it was meant to be played and the appointed judges seemed to get in the way more than they assisted in the rhythm of the match. Mother nature intervened on behalf of the spectators to occasionally give them time to catch a much needed breath and finally in the fifth set it stopped the play as if to decree that the match would be halted at that point because everything had been said. But begrudgingly yet determinedly things marched on. After a nearly five hour battle of chasing Borg's ghost, Federer finally had run out of lives. His rhythm wavered and he slipped. Nadal somehow hung on and in the end was left clutching the victory.

 

Afterwards there was a sense not of a win or a loss but of a passage - a passage of a mantle from one great champion to another. It was not handed over without struggle and not without pathos, but through the ferocious battle Nadal proved that he was a deserving champion, ready and worthy of the crown and all that it stands for.

 

 

BTW, and I'm sure it's not great for ratings, but I so enjoy the kind and gentlemanly manners of both players...

[bakerzdosen]

I imagine we'll never see another "And let that be a lesson to you all. Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row" moment. My kind of personality.

 

And Bob, you're just an HD snob I guess.

[Jerry Johnston]

BTW, and I'm sure it's not great for ratings, but I so enjoy the kind and gentlemanly manners of both players...

That's what I liked about Chris Everett and Arthur Ash in their day. I thought Jimmy Conners was a spoiled brat but he sure was fun to watch. Nastase was the worst but also fun to watch when he wasn't stopping the game with his antics. Same goes for John McEnroe.

[chrisd]

I was on Kauai in 1979, at a party with a bunch of plantation workers and fishermen. Truly the hoi polloi, not the usual tennis set. The TV was on, and they were enraptured by John McEnroe in the US Open Finals. He was an ass, but he was absolutely brilliant on the court, far more than anyone who came after him, I believe. I doubt anyone else, including Conners, would have taken them away from their party.

[azkaisr]

I believe we are now fully into the rose colored glasses portion of this thread. Most of that tennis was no better then what we saw this year.

[dogboy11]

You really think so? .... just hard for me to say that... I think the racquet technology has made most players baseline players ... we don't see net play like McEnroe any more. And I know I am an old fart but I have played tennis with both and you will never convince me it doesn't take more skill to play the game with a wooden, small faced racquet than with a graphite, oversized head racquet.

 

DB

[Bob Palin]

I believe we are now fully into the rose colored glasses portion of this thread. Most of that tennis was no better then what we saw this year.

Indeed, most of the top players today would wipe the floor with McEnroe, Connors and probably even Borg as they were back then. With the same modern training and tools the older generation could well have been as good of course. Today's tennis is definitely better in a technical sense but I still don't think it is as entertaining.

[Marek]

I think the racquet technology has made most players baseline players ... we don't see net play like McEnroe any more. And I know I am an old fart but I have played tennis with both and you will never convince me it doesn't take more skill to play the game with a wooden, small faced racquet than with a graphite, oversized head racquet.

 

 

you could say the same for all sports. I've been teaching skiing for 40 years and new ski technology makes me look like a genius when it comes to teaching the first timers.

However in tennis the same technology is on both sides of the net - human makes the difference.

[chrisd]

I believe we are now fully into the rose colored glasses portion of this thread. Most of that tennis was no better then what we saw this year.

 

Bakerzdosen's quote showed that those players had a sense of humor, not that they were better. Most of tennis now is probably "better" than what was played yesteryear. However, some of the players back then shined brilliantly, much more than any of the current group, and none more than Mac. I'm quite sure that Roger Clemens' stats far overshadow Sandy Koufax's, but Koufax glowed like fire. He was mesmerizing. Couldn't take your eyes off of him when he pitched. But he wasn't "better" than Clemens.