KUDOS TO TODAY’S TENNIS GREATS

After watching an epic five-hour-53-minute battle between Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Spain’s Rafael Nadal that concluded play at the 2012 Australian Open, my already deep respect for professional tennis players went up a notch. The match of mostly intense, high-quality tennis when neither player gave quarter, was one of the best I have ever witnessed, rivaling the 1984 French Open final between Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe, those Sampras versus Agassi duels of a decade ago, and some of the other instant classics too many to mention here.

What I most admired about this match up between the two best players in the world was their incredible fitness. Unlike other sports tennis doesn’t have a time limit. Footballers play two 45-minute halves on either side of a 15-minute break. Professional basketball players play four 12-minute quarters and NFL players four 15-minute quarters, you name the sport playing time is relatively finite. That’s not the case with tennis. There is no boundary set by time and this is what makes tennis players special because they play until a winner emerges.

In this latest era of professional tennis Roger Federer can easily be considered the best player. Sixteen grand slam titles achieved over the last decade or so is testimony to his dominance. But his story could not be told with mentioning Rafael Nadal, the king of clay , the man whose presence ensured that Federer did not achieve complete domination over the sport on all surfaces. It could be argued that had it not been for Nadal, Federer would perhaps be the most dominant male player ever with just about 22 Grand Slam titles to his name. For years the only player that stood between Federer and multiple French Open titles, was Nadal, himself a five-time French Open winner and a man who beat Federer in the finals for about four of those titles. In fact, except for Argentinian Martin Del Potro at the US Open in 2009, Rafael Nadal is the only man to have beaten Roger Federer in a Grand Slam final.

Nadal, a 10-time Grand Slam winner, had over the past three or four years begun to take over from Federer. He was Federer’s nemesis, the only man it seemed who had an answer for the sublime play of the Swiss master. By virtue of his five French Open titles, and a handful of other titles Nadal ha begun to cut a clear path to surpassing Federer as the man with most Grand Slam titles. Nadal, through his speed, his determination and will of steel had broken through Federer’s defenses and got into his head. Now whenever they meet the outcome is all but assured in favour of the tenacious Spaniard, who has a remarkable 5-2 record against Federer in Grand Slam finals.

Nadal’s reign over men’s tennis was relatively short-lived thanks in part to injury but also to the elevated play of ‘The Joker’ Novak Djokovic, who owns Nadal similarly to how Nadal owns Federer. The last seven times Nadal has met Djokovic in a final, including the last three Grand Slam titles, the former has lost. Surprisingly Nadal said as much following the US Open last year when Djokovic took the second of his three consecutive Grand Slam titles. It remains to be seen how long Djokovic’s reign will last.

What separates the play of these three over the rest of the male tennis world – in addition to their skill sets – is their remarkable fitness that allows each of these masters to play at incredibly high levels for what seems like an eternity. Five hours into their epic final on Sunday Nadal and Djokovic were chasing down every ball and hitting incredible returns at speeds of up to 75 miles an hour, three miles an hour faster than they were at the start. High quality play for 353 minutes, more than an hour longer than any other classic Grand Slam final.

It’s why tennis is a must-watch whenever these three play each other. When they’re on top of their game you know you are getting good value for money and for a really long time too. Andy Murray and a few others have been stepping their game up in recent years so imagine what it could be like a year from now? The probability of seeing another great classic like the 2012 Australian Open Finals looms large in the near future.