Tuesday, July 8, 2008

The Greatest Match Ever

I enjoyed watching the Wimbledon ladies final between the Williams sisters the previous day and their doubles final. Just when I thought I have seen everything in this edition, I was proved wrong the next day when I witnessed the greatest men's tennis final ever on grass. While Federer was trying to win the title for the 6th time in a raw (and breaking Bjorn Borg's record), Nadal eying at his first Wimbledon title having lost to Federer last two occasions.

Both the players were equally up to the task and you can hardly tell who had the upper hand. However, if you watched the match, you won't disagree with me that Nadal was a little better than Federer on that day. And rightfully Nadal won the title at the end in his 4th championship point. It was a pretty close match - 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (7-9 Nadal missed two championship points), 9-7 (What a sporting feast for Spain who recently clinched Euro cup 2008 beating Germany as well). I was fascinated by the masterclass of tennis played; it was unbelievable how they converted aces and winners into shots and difficult-to-hit ones into winners. Nadal also went to record books by being the first player to win back-to-back French Open and Wimbledon after nearly 3 decades. This match also the longest match to the date (without the rain breaks). Both played very professional tennis and I was simply amazed how graciously both handled the pressure where an armature would have screamed or even outcried at a miss. Great Match!

During the rain-interruption I was able to watch (thanks to espn360) the Asia cup final where our team (Sri Lankans) thrashed Indians. I was really happy to see Sanath hitting a winning century in this match and Ajantha Mendis, the new found spinner, was simply unplayable for Indians. Well done Lions!

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