Monday, July 09, 2007

Terrific Wimbledon final

What a match it was - Federer V Nadal yesterday was truly awesome. All talk of Nadal being a novice on grass and Federer unbeatable on the surface nearly went out of the window yesterday - Nadal looked the better player for most part of the thrilling 5 setter. Federer was clearly rattled, lost his temper against Hawk-Eye and nearly blew a golden chance to equal Borg's 5 consecutive wins at Wimbledon.

Vijay Amritraj on TV said it best - he said Nadal on grass has done much better than Federer on clay in the French.

By the looks of it, Nadal seems to be transforming into a more complete player and a genuine threat for Federer in all surfaces - he is no longer just the king of clay. As Federer himself graciously said after the match, he had better collect as many wins as he can before Nadal starts winning everything in sight.

Lastly it was very refreshing to see Nadal being utterly gracious and well-mannered during and after the match, crediting Federer as a true champion. Wonderful ambassadors for sport - both these men. Great to watch.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Wimbledon and the rain

Two articles on Wimbledon this year the rain that has plagued it - one superb one on rain affecting sport in general from Simon Barnes here, and one from Martin Johnson - typically ha ha funny. Sample this -
Is it possible that Wimbledon fortnight is now beginning to impact on the British public as tennis does for the other 50 weeks of the year? Judging by the absence of queues yesterday morning, even those people who are prepared to risk lumbago and pneumonia after spending the night on a soggy pavement for the chance of seeing an Ova playing an Eva on Court 17 have given up.