Congratulations to Tennis, Roger and Rafa

[TennisCJC]

Congratulations to Roger and Rafa for giving us the beautiful game for 5 fantastic sets.

I am Roger fan but appreciate the greatness of both.

To those that are opening negative threads implying Roger dopes or saying Rafa should quit after losing to old man or etc..., should be ignored because you are little people with cold little hearts.

Both men played great and this was a great match.

 

[speedysteve]

I feel the same way.
Fantastic two weeks of Aus open tennis.
Very unpredictable and great shake up with a slightly faster court (little less sand in the floor paint), balls that fluff up less.

It brought out a slightly different type of tennis to the fore.

Long rally grinders / pushers were out of it. Think Murray and Djokovic.


Those who had more experience of a faster era (early 2000's), and had a more attacking game came to the fore.
All finalists were over 30. Venus Williams the oldest at 36.
Both champions, Roger Federer and Serena Williams are 35!

So why was clay king master grinder Raffa Nadal in the final then, I here you ask?.
Well it wasn't Pete Sampras or Stefan Edberg fast, and Nadal changed his tactics on serve, he's such a natural talent, he plays well when on his game on any surface, but the court robbed him of vital milliseconds as did Roger today.
Roger's attacking style today was great, his backhand held up long enough helped by the shorter points and not giving Raffa the rhythm he so needs.

So a great match. 5 sets, no tie breakers and it took 3hr 38mins, instead of a grinder courters 5hrs.

Roger now has 18 grandslams - further enhancing his goat status!

4 months ago both Raffa and Roger were laid up injured.
Could never have predicted them in the final.

Tennis won today.

 

[Russeljones]

Yes, we need to talk more about this.

How lucky are we, I thought yet again, that we are witnessing these two players slug it out across different continents, surfaces and decades?

I am one of those that needed some time to learn to appreciate Nadal and I admit there are still facets of his game I dislike, but man is he made of something stern. His character is something kids should aspire to emulate. Watching Nadal during the aftermath of the match was truly moving. The fact that this loss pained him so much should give his supporters heart. This man is far from done at the highest level.

 

[-NN-]

Yes, we need to talk more about this.

How lucky are we, I thought yet again, that we are witnessing these two players slug it out across different continents, surfaces and decades?

I am one of those that needed some time to learn to appreciate Nadal and I admit there are still facets of his game I dislike, but man is he made of something stern. His character is something kids should aspire to emulate. Watching Nadal during the aftermath of the match was truly moving. The fact that this loss pained him so much should give his supporters heart. This man is far from done at the highest level.

Make sure to check out his post-match presser.

 

[Russeljones]

Nadal being very gracious. I wish more users here took note of the respect these players have for their peers.

 

[speedysteve]

Make sure to check out his post-match presser.

Scrolling down from there, you get Feds presser too

 

[speedysteve]

Make sure to check out his post-match presser.

Scrolling down from there, you get Feds pressed too

 

[TennisCJC]

yea, both these guys were raised right and are gracious in victory and defeat. very cool match and the spike in interest in tennis was very good to see - tennis made Sports Center for more than a few seconds. AO with all the 5 set matches was one of my favorite tournaments in years. Good to see Venus in final and Dimitrov in SF too. Lucic-Baroni was also a great story. Good job to the mates down under and hopefully the other grand slams can keep pace.