Early morning Wimbledon

Woke up early this morning to watch Round 4 of Federer vs. Nadal. I only sporadically watch tennis these days, but I try not to miss it when these two guys play each other. They're so far ahead of the rest of the pack, it's not even funny. Almost guaranteed great tennis whenever these guys play.

So I didn't REALLY wake up THAT early to watch, since I just TiVo'd the match and woke up at my convenience. But what a fantastic match. I've been pulling for Federer, which I think is a little strange of me, since I usually don't like guys who are as robotic, emotionless, and dominant as he is (see: "Manning, Peyton" and "Rod, A-"). But Federer is such a gracious champion and is super-cool under pressure. Perhaps that is why I gravitate to him instead of Nadal--even though he's not fiery, he knows how to get it done under pressure.

Thoughts on the match:

-Nadal could have easily won this game. He had Federer on the ropes several times, he made fewer errors, and he made more spectacular shots than his opponent (who usually makes some unbelievable shots himself). There's a case to be made that he outplayed Federer. In my mind, he dominated in all areas but one...

-Federer ruled the grass this time, because he has the edge on his serve. Even when the rest of his game broke down against Nadal, he served his way out of some jams. The story of the game is as simple as this stat line: 24 aces for Federer, 1 ace for Nadal.

-I can't say I enjoyed that replay challenge system. Maybe because all the calls went against my boy, but it's got to be incredibly annoying when your opponent throws out a challenge because he is about to lose the set, and the Hawkeye system says the fuzz on the ball just caught the outside millimeter of the painted line. The commentators caught Nadal glancing up to his coach in the stands for confirmation before challenging a call--that seems a little ridiculous as well.

-I used to think Nadal was just a dude with a solid baseline game who moved really well. Two years ago that may have been accurate, but holy crap, has this guy gotten a lot better. He made a ton of crazy-ridiculous passing shots; so many that you got the sense that Federer was actually afraid to play at the net. At Wimbledon! Nadal is 4 years younger than Federer, so at some point we're going to see the mantle pass from one player to the other--I think maybe as soon as next year.

-What makes this rivalry great to watch is that both men, aside from being great players, are so gracious in defeat. Even when one congratulates the other, you can tell that beneath the surface, each of them feels he can beat the other the next time. John McEnroe described them both as "cocky, but humble," which, strangely, actually makes sense.

-Best moment of the match was seeing Mr. Cool slam down the overhead before falling to the turf in victory. While I usually find these championship victory celebrations to ring a little bit hollow (especially when they occur in the 3rd set with the winner already up two breaks), Federer's outpour of emotion was so genuine, I almost had to fight back a few tears of my own. Almost. This is, after all, just a tennis match. Point being, it was a nice moment to see Captain Icicle lose his composure and fight back joyous tears for several minutes while coming to terms with what he had just accomplished: tying the record for most consecutive Wimbledon titles in the presence of the previous record holder (Bjorn Borg). Moments like that make you realize that the guy is a true champion--even with all his titles and the mantle of perhaps one of the most dominant tennis players ever, he fought and clawed for that 11th title and got it.

-Lastly, of course I'm going to tie it all back to football somehow:

"I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle-victorious."
-Vince Lombardi