Tuesday, November 30, 2010
2010 Tennis Comes To an End, Finally
With a thunder of applause, and a bit of ale-driven cheers, the 2010 professional tennis year came to an end yesterday. Roger Federer stood tallest, defeating nemesis Rafael Nadal in three sets at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. It was a good match, and I for one am glad it's over.
This is the latest I've ever had a tennis season go. It's just a day before December, and I actually had my fill of turkey here over three days before I got to see the last serve of the season. On the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour, 2010 was a year where they began to introduce measures to add excitement to the season and begin to shorten it. The men's tour, on the other hand, wanted to hold on to 2010 as long as it could.
I can't necessarily disagree with the championship itself, as it drew, by most accounts, a quarter of a million fans over the eight-day tournament, which, by just about any account, is a smashing success, pun intended. For most of the world, this time is devoid of a lot of professional sports, so it is easy to view and it is a welcome change to soccer. Here in America, however, it had to compete with the Thanksgiving holiday, a full professional football schedule, and some of the best college football games in years.
This year's men's finals matches were all top-notch, with very good performances by Robin Soderling, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray. The tournament got its top two seeds for the final, as well. It's the way I guess you would want 2010 to end, with the two top men playing for the last title of the year.
Federer won the match mostly on the fact he was well rested, having not been truly tested in all his round robin matches. Nadal had a marathon semifinal with Andy Murray and came into the final with about three quarters of a full tank. Federer and Nadal traded shots and games over the first two sets, but in the third and final, it was clear Nadal had run out of steam.
As I sat watching some of the match replays online, I couldn't help but flash back to matches between legends Bjorn Borg and Guillermo Vilas. Federer and Borg are cool, had incredibly complete games, and moved quickly, but with the grace of a ballerina. Vilas and Nadal, well, have the muscle and spin and are like bulls on the court, bludgeoning you with every lefty forehand and every huge backhand. As with Borg/Vilas, in the end, grace beats bulls, and Federer came out on top of Nadal.
One thing I will agree with the English tabloids is that while this is a rivalry, it's the most civil rivalry I've seen since Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall. The tennis was great, but there was at times a missing excitement. You could not feel any fire in the belly. Only blue, icy flames.
So now the season is over. The WTA season changes did little to really help performance of its top athletes and didn't help guarantee the big players, either. Injuries still played their part, including a six-month disappearance of Serena Williams due to an off-court foot injury. Venus, Maria Sharapova, and Justine Henin also suffered physically. This left the game to the young girls, and while it's nice to see the next generation, season-ending No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki still isn't a complete player yet. I'm happy to see Kim Clijsters take another U.S. Open title and also to win the season-ending tour championships over Wozniacki.
I'm still left feeling a little cheated by the women. Serena Williams finished 2010 fourth in the world, although she only played six tournaments all year. That just isn't right. Players like Sammy Stosur and Francesca Schiavone played a full season and their hearts out, both making the French final (Schiavone winning it). Finishing in the season-ending rankings below both Venus and Serena just seems wrong.
Overall, 2010 was a good year internationally for tennis, but the effects of the world financial crisis and the state of the global economy are starting to be felt. I'm glad now that the season is over. Congratulations, Roger. Happy holidays, Kim, Rafa, Caroline, Vera, Andy, Andy, Novak, and the rest of both tours. See you all in six weeks down under.
In the coming weeks, it's that time again: my annual tennis Christmas wish list for 2010. Can you guess what will be on my list?