6-4, 6-2, 6-4 - Poetic justice at Roland Garros 2010

So Nadal won the French Open. Again. Big deal some say. Yes Big Deal indeed! And anyone who saw the match would perhaps agree that it was one of Nadal's great matches. Yet personally, I would still rate Nadal's Wimbledon 2008victory over Fedex, his 2009 Australian Open semifinals match against Verdasco, and his final against Fedex, all gruelling five setters as perhaps his best performances to date. In fact, in comparison to today's match, Nadal's semi final against compatriot Almagro, was more evenly matched, with Rafa having to sweat out every point! (Pic courtesy The Hindu)

But today's match is in no way a wishwash. One, because Rafa was coming back to his favorite tournament after a disgraceful loss last year. Second, it was a rematch of last year, where Soderling literally decimated Rafa and the world thought that a clay court pretender had finally arrived. After a blinding 2008, which had the Olympic Gold for Nadal as an icing on the cake, and a blistering start to the 2009 season, all of 2009 was a bad year for Rafa, both professionally and personally. Tendinitis and his parents' divorce managed to hurt the muscled man from Majorca enough to turn his game on a downward spiral! A man who perhaps never gets ruffled by anything on court. Or else how could one explain his victory from the 'baselines' at Wimbledon 2008? And here he was, fighting all those ghosts of the past year, to put to rest thoughts about whether the pretender had arrived!

I can only imagine the emotions that gripped Nadal, while entering Philippe Chartrier. Time to avenge last year's loss? Time to reclaim what had been his for over four years? Time to get back to the world? To date, the French Open perhaps was the last place he ever had to prove a point, although not this year. The records and stats in his favor may not be staggering yet, at least not as much as those of Fedex, but an imminent No. 1 ranking, 5 victories on clay, just one short of all time great Bjorn Borg. And he just turned 24! I am sure if he were to capture his emotions on canvas, the outcome would be psychedelic to say the least. And the setting was magical. The sky was overcast, in a typical theatrical Hindi Movie style; with perhaps just lightning and thunder missing! And the symmetrical 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory was pure poetic justice.

No matter what happens at Wimbledon a few weeks from now, the King of the Clay Court is back and he is on top, ranked World Number 1, despite a whole year off with an injury last year. He has a rather unassailable lead going further, and as for his game, I guess it is safe to say that his legendary killer instinct is back...

An awesome day for the racqueteer

Two racquets, a net, tennis balls and a clay court - all it takes for some breath taking action. And that is what the French Open has been over these last 11 days. There have been the highs, with some brilliant matches and there have been the not so great ones too. But which days stay on in your mind? I guess those that have evenly matched opponents and a real fight. That's how it works for me, at least!!

Like people said that the match between Andy Murray and Richard Gasquet in the first round, where Murray won was a brilliant match. But I saw that and there really were hardly any sparks in that match. It looked like two men playing with bowling balls! There was no strokeplay, no taming of the ball, no brilliant shots, nothing that caught my eye and certainly nothing that caught my imagination and wonder! Or take the match between Samantha Stosur and Serena Williams. Serena did win at Roland Garros in 2002, and more recently, she won the Aussie Open a few months ago! So clearly, she isn't a novice on clay, but the game she played against Stosur was plain BAD! Imagine, Stosur couldn't get through on first serve EVER! At times I wondered whether those sunglasses prevented her from seeing the bright yellow ball or the net! And yet Serena lost to her!!

But take the match between say Andy Roddick and little known Gabashvili the other day. The strokes were brilliant, there was pace and there was something worthwhile to see in that match. The way Roddick ran for every point, the switch between baseline play and volleys or even the ever beautiful drop shots, was nothing short of poetry. Or even take the match between Rafael Nadal and Nicholas Almagro today. 7-6, 7-6, 6-4. Now that is something someone would spend 2 hours watching. Clay God being made to literally run for every point! The energy in every shot, the choice of shots made for some really interesting watching! Even the match between Melzer and Djokovic, a ton of a five-setter was worth looking at just for the evenly matched opponents and their game. So today, with the match between Nadal and Almagro, Djokovic and Melzer, Stosur and Serena was perhaps the best day for the racquet fan, or the racqueteer as I'd call her!

Not most of the draws that happened over the past two weeks would perhaps be repeated at Wimbledon, or for that matter, anywhere again! But for all practical purposes, it has been Game, Set, Match - TENNIS. Can hardly wait for the weekend...