Exhaustive viewing - I took some injury timeouts of my own, and was criticised on more than one occasion for taking more than the prescribed 25 seconds to fix myself a cup of green tea.
-- Best clay court match since Fedal-Rome'06; can't actually remember a better three setter being played on any surface recently - anyone?
-- They're not going to tire for a while it seems, of telling us that this was the longest match in 3 set Masters history (what, all two years of them?), clocking up as it did a total of 4hrs and 2 mins.
-- Copious amounts of axle grease to be rubbed in the faces of those that suggested Masters Events would be bereft of all drama by the decision to restrict play to three sets instead of five.
-- Don't know who that Nadal imposter was out there in the first set. Though his crude imitation was more Roger than Rafa with all those shanked forehands and balls sailing long.
-- Djoko held three match points. I know Rafa wasn't himself in the first set, but that's the strongest indication we've had of a chink in his armour for around three years. I'm sure I saw a tear in Djoko's eye as he left the stadium. He needn't worry - there's little doubt who the second best on clay is after that match.
-- Three sets might actually have an advantage: you've got to have your intensity turned right up for the entire duration. Makes for a better quality match IMO. As good as those five set epics involving Coria were, there was a different tempo about them. You could afford to go walkabouts for a couple of games and regroup. Just like long distance running I suppose.
-- Don't be surprised if Nadal is, let's say, not fully engaged tomorrow. This was the epicentre of the event right here. And fending of Djoko (his nearest rival right now) in the way he did might be a more meaningful victory to him anyway.
-- 'Dorando Pietri' Awards all over the place.
-- If Federer comes through tomorrow against Nadal, as all things point towards him doing, it will be an even hollower victory than Hamburg'07. No matter. Just take a look at how many hollow victories Djoko scored en route to his return to form. Here's one. Here's another one.
(Photo: AP via Yahoo! Sports)
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