Let me preface this entire post that I am firmly, solidly on Team Fed. I like Nadal, I can appreciate his game and physicality, but I still like Fed. That said, did anyone else see the head scratchingly awful end to an otherwise intriguing match played today at the final of the Madrid Masters? Just confounding.
First of all, I was barely able to watch the match because our country doesn't care about the clay court season. ESPN with all of it's many incarnations doesn't even bother with it, and I am one of those unfortunate people you hear tell about, that doesn't actually have cable, so no Tennis Channel for me. This morning I tried two sports bars to no avail, and then tried subscribing on-line with three different credit cards, all of them denied for no reason. I even tried to listen to the match on internet radio, and that was yet another dead end. Fortunately my friends Meeghn and Pher allowed me to storm their humble abode on a Sunday morning to watch, Meeghn's on Team Fed too, so we were compatriots.
For two hours we watched and cheered and tried to keep the hope alive, and after Fed saved the first match point against him on Nadal's serve, we thought maybe there was hope. When Fed then served strongly and Nadal was barely able to return the ball to the center of the court, Fed seemed perfectly poised to pounce and level the tie breaker. His dependable fancy footwork was with him, he was right on the ball, just needed to slam it back for a winner and........... whiff.
Completely and totally missed the ball. Meeghn, Pher and I had to rewind to make sure we saw what we thought we saw. Here, check it out for yourself!
Can you believe the best player in the history of the game went down like that? I for one, can not.
