Two words: Pure Class.
Roger was awesome last night and reminded us all of his GOAT credentials. As a colleague said to me today, you knew from almost the second he crunched down his first serve to start the match that he was going to win. That point and the rest of the game was a statement of authority.
He backed that up with his forehand, which in the first and third set, was back to its beautiful, brutal best. And unfortunately Murray couldn't repeat the level of tennis he showed in the semi. More than anything the serve, which was so strong against Rafa, let him down.
Murray will no doubt beat himself up over the performance - which is the natural reaction of a winner - but he can take satisfaction from how far he has travelled in the past few weeks.
And he provided the moment of the tournament, the moment when Murray proved that Nadal is human after all. It's something I'd never seen before.
Rafael Nadal bent over, struggling to regain his breath, after being bettered physically in a base line rally. Proof that Murray's victory was no fluke. You can see it for yourself below
UPDATE: You can read the match stats here and the figure which leaps off the screen and underlines how below par Murray's serve was, is Federer won 41 of the 81 points he received. Roger won more points on the Murray serve than Andy. Ouch.
3 comments:
As fantastically well as Roger played, Murray did look like a rabbit in the headlights. It was his first final and it showed. It will be interesting if he can go on from this and take the next step. And next year is going to be a great season with the battle between Rafa and Roger.
It's the first GS final for Murray but I don't think that's the last. Although I'm a bit disappointed with his performance but credit has to be given to Fed for playing so well, almost perfect.
Like Allan I can't wait for a match between Rafa and Fed. I'm sure Fed is hunger for a rematch and a revenge now.
That stat is wicked! Glad to see Roger at top form and really, really excited that Murray's finally broken the "trivalry" open.
The question going forward for me now is how Novak Djokovic will finish up his season. He's had some tough losses.
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