The King is Dead, Long Live the King

Down Goes Roger! Down Goes Roger! Rafael Nadal, the world’s second ranked men’s tennis player defeated the world’s No.1 player in Roger Federer in a thrilling five set match 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-7 9-7 Sunday at the Championships at Wimbledon in what some are calling the best men’s final ever. Rafa broke Federer early in the first set, then rallied from 4-1 down in the second set with two breaks. Federer would not go quietly into the night though as he took two straight sets in tiebreakers. In the final set, the two went back and forth with Rafa eventually breaking Federer before taking the championship. The victory at the All England Club was Nadal’s first Grand Slam title outside of the French and his fifth overall. Federer was seeking his 6th straight Wimbledon championship and 13th overall grand slam title.
It is hard to say who the majority of fans were rooting for in this match. Everyone loves the underdog, and Nadal was certainly the underdog since Federer seemingly owned the grass tournament. Federer had become a machine in racking up win after win and I even wrote on this website how boring he was. I was ready for Federer to get his record then move on. Well that isn’t the case anymore. Nadal is the closest thing to Andre and Federer is more like Pete from back in the mid 1990s. EVERYONE loved Andre because he played to the crowd and he was the underdog to the robot that was Sampras. Kind of like how Rafa is the underdog to Roger. At least he was. NOW it seems like Nadal is THE MAN. He is the new king as he has now won the last two legs of the Grand Slam. And Federer didn’t take home the Australian Open either as Novak Djokovic claimed that prize.
Is Federer’s run over? Maybe a bit premature to say his run is over. But maybe Federer will be more well-liked now that he’s human. He showed some emotion in rallying back from two sets down to tie it up. He battled, something he’s never had to do. He pumped himself up. Heck, he’s friends with Gwen and Gavin. They were sitting in his box! I said he was boring and he was. But now that he can be beaten, especially on his turf, and throw in the fact that his girlfriend has gotten a makeover, I could root for him now.
So now with Nadal holding the last two titles (both in wins against Federer) and Djokovic having beaten Roger on route to the Aussie title, Federer isn’t assured of anything from now on. Federer is perhaps entering the Pete Sampras 2002-phase of his career where you knew we wasn’t as good as some of the others, but you saw the flashes of what made him spectacular and he could pull up a bucket of talent from his inner well when he needed it. Maybe this is just a speed bump for Federer on his way to setting an unbreakable record of major titles. But all I know is he won more fans in losing that match then he had in 12 major wins prior. He won me as a fan.