{"id":158,"date":"2008-07-09T10:25:17","date_gmt":"2008-07-09T15:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=158"},"modified":"2008-07-09T10:27:13","modified_gmt":"2008-07-09T15:27:13","slug":"the-best-thats-ever-been","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=158","title":{"rendered":"The Best That’s Ever Been"},"content":{"rendered":"

I do not claim to be an expert on anything, really (especially writing regular columns on BSB<\/em>).\u00a0 I have loved baseball my whole life–playing it, watching it, reading about it, etc.–but, in my days growing up in the United States,\u00a0I have met people that I would consider bigger baseball fans than me (not many, but they exist).\u00a0 I have also loved basketball and football my whole life, but, again, I have met people that are more “into” each of those sports than me.\u00a0 This is all mainly because these three sports are so incredibly popular in mainstream America.\u00a0 You would be hard-pressed to find someone who calls himself a sports fan that does not follow the “Big Three” sports, in some fashion.\u00a0 That is just the way of America.\u00a0 And, honestly, they are my three favorite sports as well, but as I said, I have met people who are “bigger” fans than me for each of those sports.\u00a0 However, I can honestly say that I have never met a person who keeps a closer eye on, enjoys more, or follows as deliberately the game of tennis than myself.\u00a0 That is not to say that I am a tennis expert or anything close to that.\u00a0 I am just an American sports fan who, for some odd reason, fell in love with the sport of tennis at a young age and has never looked back.\u00a0 To me, there is a “Big Four Sports,” and the fourth sure as hell is not hockey–it is tennis.\u00a0 With that segue, I feel strangely qualified to, at least attempt, to put into perspective what happened in the world of tennis on Sunday morning\/afternoon at Wembley Stadium in downtown London.<\/p>\n

By now, I am sure that most people have heard the result of the 2008 Gentlemen’s Final at Wimbledon.\u00a0\u00a0Rafael Nadal, the young Spaniard,\u00a0halted Roger Federer’s 41-match winning streak at Wimbledon with a thrilling 5-set victory 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7.\u00a0 If that score line does not mean much to you and\/or you had other things to do on a Sunday from 9:00 in the morning until about 4:30 in the afternoon, let me put this match in its proper context:\u00a0 This was the greatest tennis match ever played!<\/strong><\/p>\n

For two and a half sets, it looked like Rafael Nadal had become what Roger Federer has been for six years now.\u00a0 He was facing a fearsome opponent, coming up with incredible shots at the most opportune moments and winning every, single big point.\u00a0 At one point in the middle of the third set, Nadal had saved 12 of the 13 break points against his serve in the match, while converting 3 of the 4 he had earned against the Federer serve.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But then, the tide shifted and Federer was the one that looked like the old Federer.\u00a0 Down 2 sets, serving at 3-4, Federer faced three break points in a game that would have led to a straight-set Nadal victory.\u00a0 Federer dug deep, hitting back-to-back aces (very Sampras-like) and finishing off the game with some monster forehands to remain on serve in the third.\u00a0 Four more thrilling holds of serve later and we were on to a third set tiebreak, in which the champion showed why he has won 5 straight Wimbledon titles.\u00a0 He even resorted to a counter-punching style against the vicious Nadal forehands, but he held on to win the 3rd set.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The fourth set was more of the same, which if you are a fan of sports, was a true gift.\u00a0 The level of play was extraordinary and these two giant competitors went at it, point after point after point.\u00a0 Again, though, a whole set was played without a break (though there were chances), and Federer’s title streak rested upon winning another tiebreak.\u00a0\u00a0He won the first point on Nadal’s serve, going up a mini-break, but Nadal came back and won both Federer’s serves to take a 2-1 lead.\u00a0 Federer won a point back on Nadal’s pair of serves and took the balls on serve in the tiebreak, 2-3.\u00a0 This is where Nadal stepped up by again taking both of Federer’s serves, to take a commanding 5-2 lead, only having to serve out the match to be crowned Wimbledon champion.\u00a0 But, the young Spaniard started to feel the heat.\u00a0 He double-faulted and then hit a forehand into the net, letting the champ back up off the mat–AGAIN!\u00a0 The next\u00a0five points were breathtaking.\u00a0 Nadal hit two ridiculous winners to garner himself a match point\u00a0on his serve at\u00a07-6.\u00a0 Federer answered that match point with an immortal backhand (his weaker side all day) up the line to even things at seven.\u00a0 He then hit a blistering forehand to put the set on his racket, eventually serving out the fourth set tiebreak and forcing a deciding fifth set.\u00a0 [Foreshadowing alert:] In Wimbledon, they do not believe in final set tiebreaks.<\/p>\n

So, the fifth set was an absolute joy to watch.\u00a0 It was two men, at the absolute peak of their sport–and their sport’s history–drilling forehands at one another.\u00a0 It was a battle of heart between two ferocious competitors on the grandest of stages.\u00a0 Back and forth they went, until Rafael Nadal finally broke through in the 15th game of the set, to take an 8-7 lead and could serve for the match.\u00a0 But, Nadal’s nerves hit him again, as he dumped\u00a0a forehand into the net on the first point.\u00a0 But, this guy the heart of a champion and, for the first time ALL MATCH, he came up with a serve-and-volley.\u00a0 Federer, obviously not looking for that, hit a return right into Nadal’s racket, which he returned for a winner.\u00a0 With calm nerves, he won the next two points, to gain himself a pair of match points.\u00a0 On the second one, Federer hit a forehand into the net and Nadal collapsed–a champion.\u00a0 The first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year.\u00a0 It was unbelievable.<\/p>\n

I wish I had the words to truly give this match justice.\u00a0 The only phrase I can think of is to say that this\u00a0was the greatest tennis match ever played!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I do not claim to be an expert on anything, really (especially writing regular columns on BSB).\u00a0 I have loved baseball my whole life–playing it, watching it, reading about it, etc.–but, in my days growing up in the United States,\u00a0I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[170],"tags":[302,301,303],"class_list":["post-158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tennis","tag-rafael-nadal","tag-roger-federer","tag-wimbledon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}