The changing order of tennis
A new order has been established by Rafael Nadal
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There are moments in sport that transcend the superficial or mundane and strike right to the core of our very humanity. |  |
Monday, 07, Jul 2008 11:38
There are moments in sport that transcend the superficial or mundane and strike right to the core of our very humanity.
They don't come along too often, but when they arrive they grip the watching world by offering universal accessibility in terms of compassion and emotional comprehension.
We marvel at the range of characteristics on display - determination, pride, courage, despair, joy, anger - as two teams or individuals at the height of their powers pour their entire being into achieving supremacy.
Furthermore, the 'survival of the fittest' mentality that has allowed us - as mammals - to establish evolutionary dominance is still intrinsic to every single person, and we delight in seeing it played out through the medium of sport.
Well, the green grass of Wimbledon played host to one of these moments on champions' Sunday, as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal served up nearly five hours of astonishing drama on Centre Court.
The pure facts say that the Spaniard emerged triumphant in five sets, but the nature of the match and all its sub-plots mean many people are already labelling it the greatest final of all time at SW19.
To continue the mammal theme, Nadal's win reminded me of an analogy I read once which compared sporting competitors to elephants lining up at a water trough, whereby the natural order of which ones get to drink first is subconsciously understood and observed by all.
The theory goes that younger or inferior elephants naturally defer to their counterparts, who have long established their place at the head of the queue.
In the same way, perennial winners in sport are so dominant and make victory look so straightforward that it can appear that their opponents are deferring to them, beaten before the battle even commences.
However, every once in a while one elephant challenges the status quo and forces his way to the front of the queue.
In this case, we had Federer - for so long the inevitable Wimbledon winner and undisputed top elephant - finally being pushed aside at the trough by an ambitious and ferociously powerful young calf in the shape of Nadal.
The analogy is helpful if only to explain the context of the clash, and to add colour to the possibility that this may be the moment the tide of history turned in Nadal's favour.
Federer, a keen student of statistics and the traditions of the game, was searching for his sixth successive crown, a feat only achieved once before - by Willie Renshaw, way back in the 1880s.
Nadal, meanwhile, was looking to become the first Spaniard to triumph at SW19 since 1966 and the first man to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year since Bjorn Borg in 1980.
The Mallorcan matador started the match at a ferocious pace, with his ripping, booming forehands and astounding court coverage helping him secure the first two sets.
He was making 12-time Grand Slam winner Federer look decidedly ordinary, much as he had done in last month's final at Roland Garros, when he conceded just four games en route to his fourth successive title - thus remaining the undisputed master of clay.
The heavens then opened with Nadal about to serve to stay in the third set at 4-5, but no one could have predicted the sequence of events that followed when the players returned from the interruption.
Many commentators have claimed that Federer has lost his aura of invincibility this year after suffering with glandular fever, but he came out and showed the world what makes him such a great champion.
After securing the third set tie-break with an awesome display of serving, the Swiss maestro found himself 5- 2 down in the fourth set tie-break with two Nadal service points to come.
But he pulled himself back and although he faced match points at 6-7 and 7-8, he saved both - the second by passing the advancing Nadal with a stunning backhand winner down the line.
Federer went on to seal the tie-break, which was of such staggering quality that it reignited memories of the famous one from the 1980 final between Borg and John McEnroe.
By this point the enchanted Centre Court crowd had reached fever pitch, roaring on both men as they continued to give everything on entering the decider.
Most mere mortals would surely have suffered mentally from being so close to glory but the relentless Nadal was not to be denied, even with another rain break at 2-2 in the fifth set.
The level of tennis continued to verge on the superhuman, before Nadal finally broke Federer at 7-7 and served out to seal the astonishing and ultimately deserved win by a scoreline of 6-4 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-7 (8-10) 9-7.
As Nadal celebrated in the semi-darkness at 21:15 BST, the feeling was that a watershed may have been reached in a rivalry that will surely one day rank alongside that of Borg and McEnroe in the game's annals.
Federer had ousted his younger opponent in the previous two Wimbledon finals, but despite his incredible fight he could not stem the flow of phenomenal groundstrokes coming from the Spaniard's racket.
And while Nadal may not rise to the top of the ATP rankings just yet, the symbolic nature of the victory - bringing Federer's 65-match, five-year winning streak on grass to an end - means that in the eyes of most observers, he is now very much the man to beat.
No doubt the word will spread like wildfire: the king is dead, long live the king.
However, it would surely be foolhardy to write Federer off completely. Like all great champions, he will respond to this shattering defeat with humility, introspection and quite possibly improvement.
But one thing is for sure - there's a new elephant sipping the cleanest, freshest water at the trough for now, and he won't be budged without a fight.
Chris Bryant