All hail the new king in town

My first words to Colin when I woke up this morning were, “Who won?”

He was propped up in bed, staring at his MacBook. “Well, it looks like someone is biting a Wimbledon trophy…”

YEAAAHOOOOO!!!

Vijay Amitraj, who had predicted that Roger would win in four sets, had to eat his words.

After an epic battle of four hours and 48 minutes, Rafael Nadal took the men’s singles trophy from a devastated Roger Federer, who had reigned supreme on the grass court at Wimbledon for the last five years – a record previously held by Bjorn Borg. If Roger had won, he would have equalled William Renshaw’s record of six consecutive Wimbledon (men’s singles) titles. Rafa, actually, equalled another record set by the legendary Borg – clinching both the French and Wimbledon titles in the same year. And with his first Wimbledon men’s singles title, Rafa is only the second Spaniard to have won the championship since Manuel Santana in 1966.

I watched the live telecast last night up until the rain delay in the third set, and just finished watching the re-run over dinner today. I have never been so pumped up about a tennis match before. It was, as Vijay likes to say, “glorious tennis”. Both players gave it their all until the very last point, though Roger was clearly affected after losing the first and second sets 6-4, 6-4. Still, he played some superb volleys and ripped those beautiful backhands to take the third and fourth 7-6, 7-6, but went down 7-9 to my boy from Mallorca. I think that if not for the shitty London weather disrupting the match, Rafa might have closed it off in four sets – if not three.

Roger and Rafa are two of my favourite players (though I’d root for Rafa over Roger). It’s great to see the obvious respect between them, and they are fantastic ambassadors for the sport as they are the epitome of talent, grace, and humility.

I am so inspired. And so looking forward to my lesson this Saturday!

 

UNTIL NEXT TIME...

PHOTO FROM JUSTJARED.COM