So that's the French Open over for another year, the men's final saw the duel of the titans between Rafa and Roger who battled it out to gain the fancy Parisian silveware, and in the end there was only one victor of course. And well that man was.... well Rafael Nadal. Who else???
The stage was set for a dramatic match between the two greatest players in the world just now and to a certain extent it lived up to its promise. But overall I felt somewhat disappointed by the match mainly because Federer in particular made too many unforced errors, he played some tremendous shots but there were alot of mistakes in there too. Federer started the first set very promisingly as he instantly broke Nadal's serve and ended up securing a 5-2 lead, but then he played a drop shot at set point that just went over the line, and in that moment Nadal got back into the match and rattled off the next 5 games to take the opening set 7-5. The second set was a tighter affair as both men played to a tiebreak, but again Federer made too many errors and it cost him too as Nadal took it 7-6(3). However things did turn round in the 3rd set as after being a break down Federer broke back and then broke Nadal's serve at 5-5, to make it 6-5, so Federer successfully served for the 3rd set at 7-5. But in the 4th set, Nadal regained control and proved too strong for Federer as he closed out the match in 6-1, guaranteeing his 6th title at Roland Garros.
There definitely was some really good match play mixed into the final, but overall I felt it wasn't consistent enough in quality to keep me thrilled throughout. Quite often it felt like a stalled car, you try to get it going and then it stops again. Federer who was absolutely on fire throughout the tournament, especially in his amazing match against Djokovic, just seemed to fizzle out toward the end, he did put up a good fight but it just felt underwhelming to watch in the end. During the commentary for the match Andrew Castle for the BBC said that Federer used to be invincible till he met Nadal, and its same for Nadal with Djokovic. This shows the irony of it all, as Federer can beat Djokovic, Nadal can beat Federer, yet Nadal can't beat Djokovic! But it was great for Rafa to get this win, as it means he can hold onto the No. 1 ranking and while winning the other slams is great, the French Open is always the one that means the most to him.
But that's it over with, and I was pleased for Rafa that he won, so that's his 10th grand slam, now into the double figures, another 6 and he'll equal Roger. However Roger based on this tournament is definitely starting to play some of his best tennis again. He'll never get back to his glory days but I think if he maintains this level this summer he can win Wimbledon, and I think that's his main goal for the year. Given his performance at the French Open, this definitely could give Federer the opportunity to claim the grassy silver trophy once more. So it will be interesting to see how it goes.
So that's the red dirt season over with, now onto the grass, Wimbledon is just two weeks away now, in the meantime there are a few grass tournaments for the men and women, in Eastbourne and at Queens in London, as well as the Gerry Weber Open in Halle Germany where Roger usually plays this time of year. And the AEGON Queens Club Championship starts tomorrow, which is of course the men's tournament prior to Wimbledon. While its not a grand slam by any means, Queens is quite a prestigious title, and its also a great precursor to Wimbledon as well as training run for the grand slam. So among the Queens lineup will feature Rafa, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, Del Potro, Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic and quite a few others. It will be on the BBC all week so I will definitely be following that. Andy won it back in 2009 so it would be nice if he managed a repeat win of it this year, probably not, but you never know. Sam Querrey the defending champion from last year will be playing again, although Mardy Fish, the runner up who had a run in with Andy last year during their 3rd round match, won't be taking part due to an injury.
So there is more to follow on the sport, so bring on the green grass and get the whites on.
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