SUSO

TRIUMPH OF THE WILL, OR TRIUMPH OF SKILL?

WHEN FOOTBALL WAS USURPED AS THE BEAUTIFUL GAME.

A few people have been talking about the match yesterday (or last night) as a battle of wills. He who wanted it most prevailed, they say. But did Nadal really want it more than Federer? If Roger didn’t want it quite so bad, how did he summon the strength to come back from two sets down against the most imposing player on the planet?

Where Rafa has worn all other opponents down with his brutal strength and diehard persistence, Federer withstood. Just. And then, at match point down in the fourth set tie break, when put under more pressure than most can fathom, and driven deep to his weaker backhand side, Federer punched a single-hander down the line to save the match and set up a deciding set. A triumph of the will? Really?

For sure, the will plays a part - a big one in fact - but to talk about yesterday’s final as an exercise of the mind hardly does it justice. To me, there was more to it than that. What became more and more clear as things progressed was that this was not a matter of will against will - any two players can serve up one of those, provided they’re of a similar standard - but rather a celebration of raw ability and grace. The dire commentator Andrew Castle had a go at finally saying something other than, “Just look at Rafa’s muscles” when he piped up with, “This is not about tennis anymore”, as if skill had ceased to play a part. What rubbish. This was tennis at its very purest, and it produced impossible moment after impossible moment. Moments like Federer’s backhand when all seemed lost; moments of sheer beauty, not just of the will, but of the will and skill combined.

The thing is, Nadal had more, and to do that against Roger Federer makes him a deserving - and remarkable - champion.

Categories Sport Tags Federer Nadal Tennis Wimbledon

By on 7/7/08