Word: nadal
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...late in the fifth set of Rafael Nadal's five-set victory over Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final on Sunday - a match that took over seven hours to complete, included two rain delays, featured multiple changes of momentum, and is already being discussed as potentially the greatest tennis match ever played - when the middle-aged couple sitting next to me turned to each other between points and suddenly held hands in that heightened way that you see in movies of plane crashes. "I love you," the man said with an intensity he seemed not to have expressed for some...
Sitting in Row M, Seat 129, I took copious notes on this match and, if you want, I can ramble on with statistics. I can tell you about the contrast in styles of the contestants, about how Nadal is the tennis equivalent of a bruiser (case in point: he served 25% of the time to Federer's body), while Federer is a dancer (he chose that aggressive target only 4% of the time), and how Nadal managed to neutralize the greatest attacking forehand in tennis with the game's greatest backhand passing shot (Federer won only 60% of points when...
...with tactics or score, but rather attempted to capture the seemingly mundane moments in the four-hour and 48 minutes of play that will stay with me long after I forget how Federer won the crucial match point in the 4th set (a backhand pass), or even what shot Nadal hit to win the match (a serve). Here is the view from...
First set: The crowd is still filtering in, murmuring. The umpire, as if inviting inventiveness and creativity, begins proceedings by saying to Federer and Nadal: "Ready, play...
First set: At one point, Federer hits a seemingly unreturnable approach shot but is passed by Nadal on the return. Back at the baseline, the defending champion turns to the ball girl but she stands arms out, empty-handed; Federer seems to acknowledge that he, too, is out of ideas...