Nervous breakdown in 5 sets
Saffy shows off her forehand.
Australian Open men’s final
1st set. Federer’s shots all over the place. Nadal slower than usual. Lots of breaks. Both play badly (for top-ranked players), Nadal less badly to take set 7-5.
2nd set. Nadal mutters to himself. At 3-3 Fed wakes up. 6-3, Federer.
3rd set. Fed can’t find his serve. Nadal gets a massage. Whoever you’re rooting for, your nerves are shot. Nadal’s forehand goes haywire. Fed’s volleys are embarrassing and he can’t convert many, many break points. Tiebreak. Nadal, 7-6 (3). I can’t look. Must empty brain. Will do laundry.
4th set. Fed is up 5-3. Serving better. Takes the set, 6-3.
5th set. 4-2. Going back to the safety of my laundry. Nadal wins, 6-2. Post-mortems on Federer’s career begin. Actually they began long before the final. (Ah, leave him alone. Saffy says he needs to go home and spend quality time with his cat. You’ve enjoyed his many victories, now you suck up the losses. Be a man. Note: For some reason it’s easier to “be a man” when one is female. Less pressure.)
Mat sulking.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
February 1st, 2009 at 21:42
The Fed sobbing like a little boy. Argh!
February 2nd, 2009 at 01:18
Oh, Fed, stop it. Don’t steal the moment from Rafa.
But I must say, they played well, both of them. ‘Tho, last year’s Wimbledon was still the best.
February 2nd, 2009 at 01:22
What’s so argh about it? That’s how he deals with both wins and losses, and this one meant so much to him, as it would have been his 14th Grand Slam.
February 2nd, 2009 at 06:53
didn’t how to feel when fed sobbed.. wasn’t sure if i wanted to hug him or smack him in the head..
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:05
Not to take anything away from the world No.1 and No.2, but I think the real championship match was the one played 2 days before with No.14 Verdasco in it.
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:33
I actually cried. Dang it!
February 2nd, 2009 at 12:03
As soon as the last point was made, I turned off the TV coz I can’t bear to watch the awarding ceremonies anymore. After a while, my friend called, offered his condolences, then asked me, “Did you see Federer cry?”…and I said “What?!Federer cried???”.
So I waited for the replay and at 3 in the morning…got to watch the awarding again…and for a while I was speechless. All I can say is…no matter what people will say about him and his breakdown…it was both heart-breaking and heart-warming to see…and it made me love him even more! *sigh
February 2nd, 2009 at 12:42
I promised to be more serene if he got this, but he didn’t. I’ve given up on the French, but I will prepare my heart once more for Winbledon. I give him a great chance for it. If this defat doesn’t give him the motivation to demolish Rafa on grass, I don’t know what will.
February 2nd, 2009 at 17:40
13 is really a lucky number.
The Fed is really just emotional.
Rafa’s wedgie did the Fed in.
February 3rd, 2009 at 01:57
I know that life goes on, but let him cry today or for the week. I would. What’s wrong with grieving for something that you’ve lost? People would say, “Move on.” Or say, “You’ll make it soon enough.” Yeah we know, but today (or this week) let him grieve.
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:15
That was heartbreaking! I was sobbing too. You can see on Fed’s face how this meant to him and dang it! I know he was going to pay for all those wasted BP oppurtunities..and he did *hysterical*
February 3rd, 2009 at 19:57
Being a huge fan of Federer, I believe that he needs to hire a shrink to get Rafa off his mind. The demolition at last years french open and the win at wimbledon really hurt Federer. You can tell that he was thinking about it. He looked so tentative last Sunday. I was yelling “Pasok!” everytime they would have rallys.
Maybe the tennis gods are setting up Federer to get his 14th slam at the french open and the 15th at wimbledon. I need to start novena now.