Right so this is my last post on the 2014 French open will cover the mens final which was a highly anticipated clash between the world no.1 and 2, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. So would Rafa win his record breaking 9th Roland Garros title or would Nole complete his career slam with his first title in Paris? Let's have a look and find out....
OK so we've been there many times before, we know the story with these two guys, the two best players in the world no question and they have met more than any two players have in the history of the game as this was to be their 42nd career meeting with Rafa leading 22-19 in their very close head to head. So this match promised to be a classic, but what is it??? Well in all honesty no it wasn't one exactly, although it got off to a decent start with Djokovic imposing himself on Rafa as he broke the Spaniard's serve to claim the 1st set. In the 2nd set play went by serve until 6-5 with Nole serving to take it into a tiebreak, when he had a lapse in concentration and as someone called out in the crowd he double faulted to go 15-15 and Rafa went on to win the next three points to even the scores at a set all. In the 3rd Rafa now had the momentum and an increasingly weary looking Djokovic started to misfire and make alot of unforced errors which saw him hand a double break to Rafa who took the two sets to one lead. And in the 4th set, Nole continued looking worse for wear and at one point even spat out phlem on the court (yuk!) clearly suffering from fatigue and possibly also from a suspected virus (as hinted in the press). And during the 4th Nole was broken again by Rafa, which looked to spell the end, however Nole managed to break back once again to level 4-4. However.... the fate of the Gods was with Novak once again as at 4-5, serving to make it 5-5, Nole at 30-40, was distracted by someone calling out while he was about to serve, which prompted him to serve a double fault for the second time in his second French open final, which saw Rafa sink to his knees in tears of joy as he won his 9th French crown with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 victory.
Well as far as finals go, especially between these two men, this was pretty disappointing and the level of play was mixed throughout, with both men at different times feeling fatigued on the court. And it didn't even have the feel of a Djokovic-Nadal match, which are usually liberally peppered with wonderful baseline rallies and great exchanges, and if you were lucky there were probably three or four good rallies tops in the match! Instead the points were largely kept short as both men were trying to attack one another, probably because of the intense heat on the court, with the temps in Paris soaring around 30 degrees, so you can imagine the heat on the court being worse. So in terms of finals it came up way short on expectations of being a great final, especially given their 2012 final was a slow burner, but turned into an excellent contest as it carried on. Djokovic out of the two men it has to be said was definitely the more worse for wear especially as play went into 3rd and 4th sets, he looked like he just wanted a lie down. And it was a great pity that he suffered the same cruel fate two years ago when he double faulted to hand the title to Rafa once again and afterwards Djokovic clearly looked emotional as the crowd gave him a warm reception on the podium when he received his runner up dish. And I wonder if last year Novak missed his golden opportunity to win his first RG title last year as he squandered his break in the 5th set of his Rafa match last year in the semi finals, which if he'd held onto it could even have been a different story this year. But Nole might yet get his chance to win the title in Paris.
As for the Rafa well once again he has defied all odds and shown that he is the man to beat at Roland Garros and he now stands with an incredible 66-1 record in Paris, 9 titles, it is a record that will most likely never been equalled again in anyone's lifetime. This also now sees Rafa tied with Pete Sampras at 14 grand slam titles to his name and he is only three away from Roger Federer who holds the record for the men's at 17. And with Rafa having won at the French he now goes into Wimbledon as a heavy favourite next to Andy Murray, the defending champion (more on him in a tick or two!). And Rafa will be determined to make up for his early departures from SW19 in the last two years due to his knee injury, as even last year his knee wasn't holding up as well on the grass as he'd hoped and suffered his first round exit of a slam for many years against the journeyman player, Steve Darcis. And if Rafa wins at Wimbledon then I can see him go on to win the US Open as well this year too, which will see him continue to dominate the game and hold the world's top spot, which is safe just now for him after his triumph in Paris.
Now onto another tennis related subject which is Andy Murray's coach, as since his departure from Ivan Lendl, there has been much speculation as to who Andy would choose for his next coach and there have been different names thrown into the mix such as John McEnroe, Larry Stefanki (who coached Andy Roddick) and even Martina Navratilova. However in the end Andy has decided on the former Wimbledon ladies singles champion, Amelie Mauresmo, who won the title back in 2006. Mauresmo herself has already previously coached other players including Marion Bartoli, whom he she guided to her Wimbledon victory last year, and also Michael Llodra. So its an interesting choice and it could very well work out in Andy's favour as he said he chose her as he felt it was time for input from a new voice, and he already has been coached by his mother, Judy, years ago, so he is no stranger to a female coach. Andy also felt that Mauresmo would provide a calming influence for his camp and her playing style was to think out her opponents and try solve problems, similar to Andy's approach.
So as the Queens club tournament starts this week and the grass court season get's under way, Andy will start working Mauresmo straight away and we will see how they get on. Although if he doesn't do well at Queens or Wimbledon I wonder if he will decide to end their partnership, but only time will tell on that one (which may prompt patronising headlines such as "Never send a woman to do a man's job!" no doubt). However if their partnership does work out then it will see Andy as something of a pioneer in terms of coach selection, as he had Djokovic and Federer follow suit on recruiting former major champions to coach them, maybe other plays might consider a female coach as well. But again the gender of the coach doesn't really matter as long as Mauresmo can help Andy achieve his goals to win more majors then that's what counts and if he can defend his titles at Queens and Wimbledon this year, then she's got him off to the perfect start. So for now its an interesting time for Andy and we will wait and see how his new coaching partnership will pan out.
Right so that's it for now, I will be back soon and probably do cover something on Queens later in the week.
Till then bye for now.
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