Advance Booking

After exams, it's usually back to books for me, the non-academic kind. But the Australian Open (which I missed due to aforementioned exams) was too good to be ignored. So it's tennis time. And Rafa time!

The Federer-Nadal final was supposed to be epic, but frankly, it didn't match up to my expectations. I came expecting Star Wars, got Hitchhiker's Guide instead. Don't get me wrong, Federer is a great player, but his greatness sort of took a vacation on Sunday. Maybe it was the pressure of Slam No.14, but whatever it was, Nadal simply outclassed him. I mean, the way he caved in during the fifth set, despite beating Nadal 6-3 in the previous set, made no sense to me. Seems that the record and ranking is going to be way out of Fedex's hands if he keeps crumbling like this, 'coz rest assured, he's gonna to come across Nadal quite a few times.

The Nadal-Verdasco semis, a wholly different ballgame there. Each made the other slave for virtually every point. Three crackling tie-breakers, and the number of deuces probably exceeded the number of curses used in Departed. Nadal's stamina is amazing; after chasing Verdasco's returns all around the court for a gruelling 5 hours, he still managed to get the upper hand over Federer, another 4-hour 5-setter. I guess the bananas help.

Roger, don't lose heart;the year has just started. Verdasco, I hope to see your forehand again. And Rafa, you are my favorite. You ROCK!!!






P.S. Laksh, thanks for reintroducing tennis to me.