It was a good Sunday for sports lovers yesterday as we witnessed an unbelievable British Grand Prix at Silverstone with McLaren-Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton winning his first home GP. BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld finished second and Honda’s Rubens Barrichello took the third step in the podium in a wet and incident packed race. Sri Lanka won the cricket Asia Cup defeating India in the final at Karachi thanks to the efforts of Ajantha Mendis and Sanath Jayasuriya.
There was something that was much better than those two events yesterday – the Wimbledon final between Roger Federer of Switzerland and Rafael Nadal of Spain.
Roger and Rafa – tennis gladiators . . .
Image:www.rediff.com
Take a look at the closing stages of the epic final between my favourite tennis players . . .
If the video does not load, you can watch it here on YouTube.
It was the most closely fought, most entertaining and most fascinating duel I have ever witnessed on a tennis court. It was much more than a tennis match. It was a gladatorial contest!
Clearly, Roger Federer is an artist and a magician who has taken tennis to an entirely new level. He certainly is one of the, if not the greatest male tennis player ever. He is untouchable on his favourite suface – grass. Rafael Nadal is an entirely different kind of player – a bullfighter. His favourite surface is clay where Roger Federer simply cannot match the Spaniard. But one must be impressed, to say the least, about the way Rafa has improved over the years on grass. He lost to Roger in the final in four sets in 2006 and stretched him to five sets in 2007. Now, the 22-year old toreador from Mallorca has dethroned the five time champion to become only the second Spaniard to win the Wimbledon title.
Roger Federer admitted that the loss was the toughest defeat of his career. But for a neutral tennis fan, it was a fantastic match – one that will be remembered for a long, long time.
¡Felicitaciones, Rafa!
An alien's thoughts about our planet 
u don’t watch F1?
Both are great!!!!!!
number 1 and number 2 playing!
I love theis fair play ans profesionality!
many congratulations to RAFA!
2008 is the Year of the Spanish. They are unstoppable. As for the match, it is definitely one of the best of all time. But Nadal should have finished the job in the fourth set’s tiebreaker.
Vishesh,
I do watch F1. I thoroughly enjoyed the British GP. But this game was simply something else. Infact, I didn’t watch the cricket match which turned out to be very boring, except for the performances of Sanath Jayasuriya and Ajantha Mendis.
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Francina,
Yes, both are terrific players! And both of them are very professional and gentlemanly. Rafa finally managed to get the better of Roger on grass!
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Leafless,
The Spaniards are on a roll! Roger seems to have a better record in tie-breakers than Rafa.
Gosh, those two guys seated in the photo are good-looking…..!!!!! I especially like the guy on the right…..
Eileen
Dedicated Elementary Teacher Overseas
elementaryteacher.wordpress.com
Both of them are very handsome, Eileen!