End of an Era

The Nadal-Federer Wimbledon final was one of the all-time classics, ranking right up there with Borg-McEnroe 1980 (the 18-16 tie break match). The quality of tennis right up to the end was phenomenal. Federer on his favourite surface, threw everything he had at Nadal & still lost. I wonder whether he will win another major title. It seems the younger generation of Nadal, Djokovic, even Murray, will now thwart Federer's attempts to win another Slam. He will still have a great chance at the US Open, where Nadal's previous best is 'only' a QF. Nadal plays with both knees strapped & hard courts put the most strain on the joints. Nadal's coach & uncle, Toni Nadal, has expressed his concern at the possible long-term damage of playing on hard courts.

There are parallels between Borg & Federer. Borg beat Mac in 5 sets in Wimbledon 1980, but lost to him in the 1981 final. Now Federer has lost his title having prevailed over Nadal the year before, again in five sets. Borg never won another major after losing to Mac in the 1981 final & retired the next year. However he never won the US Open, whereas Fed has won it four times. Tennis fans need not worry that Federer will follow Borg by retiring in his prime. He promised after the Wimbledon final that he would return next year, & has even spoken about trying to emulate Agassi & Connors by playing on for another ten years, well into his thirties.

At the start of the the year I tipped Roger to finish the year as world no. 1, that now looks unlikely. Federer would probably have to win at Flushing Meadows & match Nadal's results at the other hard court events.