It was amazing, truly. I saw the first 2 sets, the third set up to the first rain delay, and the fifth set and I have to say the quality of play was amazing, the grit and showed by both men was tremendous, and the result was perhaps perfect in the end. I was pro-Rafa winning the title, and I also did not want it to go to Monday, so it ended right on time!
It was crazy! At the beginning I think Roger was winning more points, but Rafa was winning the big points. Not to say Rafa wasn't playing well, quite the opposite! But the 2nd set probably should have been Fed's, had he played how he played later. But somewhere he had a bump in the road, and dropped his serve twice!
Things started to change in the 3rd. Rafa probably should have won that set. But he couldn't break Fed at 3-all and then came the first rain delay! And then the part I didn't see, since I was returning to Ann Arbor, was from 5-4 in the 3rd set to the beginning of the 5th.
It must have been very disheartening to have championship points and lose the tiebreak the way Rafa did in the fourth. But he kept his head steady and fought off some break points at like 2-2 or something. And though they were physically fit and running everything down like whoa, they were getting a bit mentally tired. I don't think darkness had too much of an influence, but there was still wind so there were more strange bounces and errors. Rafa was slowly getting more and more chances on Fed's service, trying hard each time to break. To fight off most of them, Fed used his big serve and hit aces and service winners or serves that basically set up his point. But in the end it was too much. The balls were heavy, he might have been mentally down a bit, and Rafa finally seized the moment. 9-7 in the fifth. If it had been much longer, they would have stopped play, because it was about 9:15 PM London time and the sun was setting.
Frankly I lived somewhat the points and screamed at the TV. But not nearly as bad as the AO final between Jo-Wilfried and Novak, which was not nearly as dramatic. I can't imagine how it was like to be a Federer or a Nadal fan, watching this final. I don't know if they still can't believe it; I kind of can't feel it. And Rafa is still going to be #2 in the world, but I believe he can get #1. Please!
And I thought, even before this match, that Rafa could become the greatest of all time. Even over Federer. And I hope he can do it! And his higher profile certainly has to help Federer. I'm a greedy whore and want this generation of players that I am watching to have the greatest of all time so that I can say that I got to watch it! At least, I may have seen the greatest Wimbledon final ever. And that is truly how amazing it was.
And with Wimbledon over, I can't wait until the next biggest thing - the Olympics! Let's see them duke it out for the gold!
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