Well, if you are an ardent tennis fan, the last weekend was probably the best that you could have asked for. It was 10 hours of breathtaking tennis of the very high quality within a span of 48 hours. And the saddest part was that at the end, there could only be one champion.
To be very honest, I have never kept track of this player "Fernando What Verdasco" and when tuned in to watch the semi, was expecting a rather easy victory for Rafa in a straight setter. But 15 minutes into the match, I started noticing this guy who could not only match Rafa's biceps but also this shots. The first set lasted close to an hour and that was the time required for this man to turn me into a fan of his tennis.
While watching Wimbeldon finals 2008, I was convinced that this was the best match of tennis I would be watching for a long time to come and to my very pleasant surprise, I had to change my opinion in a time of little over 6 months. Man!!! What a match. Five hours and fourteen minutes of breathtaking tennis fought between two supremely gifted athletes.
Being a Rafa fan and also a fan of Roger-Rafa rivalry, I wanted Rafa to win the semis; or atleast thats how the match started for me. But watching the guts of Fernando, I became confused as to with whom my loyalty was.
Fernando was well aware of the fact that the only way on this plannet to beat Rafa was to go for the winners. And it is folklore in the tennis fraternity that against Rafa, you need to hit 3 winner to win a point. You cant be sure that you have won a point till the moment the ball-boy picks the ball and the chair-umpire confirms the score. Moreover, Rafa had the aura of being the world number one. Having watched Rafa play and having these things playing on your sub-concious mind would have made most players on the tour surrender meekly but that was not the case with Fernando. He had the heart and the balls to question every shot of Rafa and very often, came out with shots for which Rafa had no answer but only admiration.
Its not very often that a player hits 95 winners and yet ends up losing the match
