Firstly, Del Potro-Murray was quite a non-event in many ways. I'm sure I've seen more people spectating on a park court!! Murray seemed to be getting the ball back OK, but I have seen Del Potro's inside out forehand really coming on nicely. Ever since he beat Nadal in Miami, that's now officially his weapon. He has the potential to further improve his ranking, as does Nando 'Specimen' Verdasco...
Then came what has to be the Clay Court Match of the Year thusfar. This match surpassed the Queen's final last year, with these very two greats of the game. My respect for Djokovic has multiplied something crazy! I wonder if he's got any semblance of a shoulder left after playing pretty much each and every point SO full on. I think Nole was very unlucky to not convert any of those matchpoints. For once, I really feel for him because he has seemingly matured quite a lot. I wouldn't even mind if he won a Slam this year!! And Nole, I think all is well in paradise with you and your stick! Your love affair with Wilson, although it bore considerable fruit, is starting to become a distant memory for the sake of your marriage with Head. You are focussed on making it work and I wish you a happy (re?)marriage. Stick with the counselling, it seems to be working.
Now I know Nadal actually won the match, so I don't wish to take anything away from him. Still, there's not much to say apart from him owning everyone so far this season. Is it getting a bit boring? Don't get me wrong, I am happy that The Beautiful Game (may I dub it as TBG?) is not dominated by one person to the extent it has been. I know I keep going back to it, but John McEnroe's stark quote in 2005 about The Fed being able to win 2-3 Slams a year without playing his best tennis still sticks out in my mind. I mean I remember talking to Top about this around the start of 2007, that GOAThood was in the bag so long as a breathing Roger Federer turns up! However, our young Spanish friend had other ideas...
As for the final, well it seemed as though the clock was rewound about 3-4 years as Federer finally strangled the choker who went around fraudulently posing as him (see Superman III and you'll know what I mean!)! He opened his shoulders and ACTUALLY PLAYED FOR ONCE! Come on Fed, where have you been this past year?! I think the nothing to lose attitude really came out. Then when he finally realised that he found his forehand again (like it had been right at the bottom of his pocket all this time), it was like "Hey, I might be onto something here!" and started to express himself a lot more, imposing his (technically superior - IMHO) game on Nadal. He didn't take the first set for granted. It was good to see that he shrugged off those 2 breakpoints towards the end of the second set. The thing is that it wasn't just the serve and forehand, it was the variety of shots; drop shots, coming to the net (PSSST...THAT IS THE KEY TO BEATING NADAL!!!!), playing the backhand without feeling the need to always run around it, somewhat flatter shots as well. I think I may have even seen streaks of the Federer that beat Sampras at Wimby 2001. Maybe it's those yoga/breathing exercises at Lamaze classes...?! Hee hee!
The question is, has he exorcised the demon? Not sure on that one. Time will have to tell because those 5-setters (hence Slams) are a completely different animal, especially when our Spanish friend is at the other end. And he can mentally block out previous defeats like anything. Maybe he's been drinking some of his water or something. The way he played reminded me of the times he would beat top players but lose silly matches to players like Canas. Though Simon seems to have gotten the better of him in the past few meetings.
On a side note, I had no idea Dinara was SOOOOOO tall!! More like Marat's not much littler than him sister!
Also, I thought Miami was dubbed as The Fifth Slam!? I hope no more Masters 1000 events get labelled as such...
(Photo: Javier Soriano/Getty Images via BBC Sport)
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