Has Rafael Nadal Gone Past The Tipping Point In His Tennis?

Here’s the thing: though I am certainly (and proudly) guilty of favoring a certain dude from Switzerland when I get invested in the game of tennis, I am first and foremost a fan of the sport before any one individual player. The first match I remember being hooked on was back when Michael Stich upset both Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker respectively to win the 1991 Wimbledon Championship. I must’ve watched that match half a dozen times that summer.

The reason I preface this post with that bit of information is because some guy recently made a comment about how my lack of objectivity brings the weight of my commentary on the sport that I love into question. First off, as with most blogs this is a very unique forum where above anything else it’s seen through my point of view. It’s more of an editorial platform that way.

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m blind to the game overall. I mean, Michael Arrington of Techcrunch openly praises Mac and everything Steve Jobs. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t equally well informed about all things Blackberry, Microsoft, Google, etc. That just means he likes to wipe his face with Jobs’ taint.

What?

Huh?

I don’t even know what that means.

Anyway, I’ve published aforementioned comment on the post (of which I can’t even remember at the moment which post and which comment it was but it’s definitely in there somewhere.)

What does that have to do with the title of the post?

Here goes.

With the incredible tennis Rafael Nadal has played this summer so far, has he passed the tipping point? I don’t think so.

Now that’s not a bitter Federer fan talking. Nadal is a pimp. No doubt about it. He has done something in the past couple of months that not only transcends tennis and general sports (killing Federer at The French, beating Federer at Wimbledon, first man since Borg to win both in the same year, etc.), it’s equally impressive on a historical, cultural and global level. And it wasn’t a fluke.

But more to the point, at the end of the season it’s a really impressive two months of tennis. One of the most impressive. Probably the most impressive since Federer won three grand slams in a year… three times.

Like I’ve stated before, Nadal is the king of clay. He’s won the damn thing four times in a row. Now the rest of it, as impressive as it is, is a great run had by a great athlete and tennis player at a specific point in time.

Now if Nadal repeats the run again say in 2009? If he wins the US Open? Doesn’t blow out his knees before he hits 25. Doesn’t burn out from the super aggressive way in which his game has been designed as…

By the way, if I hear one more tennis analyst compare Nadal’s match rituals as that of a professional boxer or fighter… ARGHHHH!!!!

That’s the type of shit that burned out Chang and Hewitt. Even Agassi learned to keep his shit calm during his later years when he got all “zen” and started to win more majors consistently.

Commentators of the tennis world, you’re not doing Rafa or his millions of fans any favors by comparing and encouraging him with a fighter who can end a match with one punch. Tennis is more of a marathon. That running around like a banshee looks cool at 21-22. It starts to get a little disturbing at 25-26. And it gets down right creepy starting on the day after his 27th birthday.

… So until Nadal pulls out what he did this year again and again, it’s just a great season for Nadal before it becomes a great career.

Nadal has five slam titles now. He’s going to win a couple more. No doubt about it. He may very well become the all time greatest clay court player in history (beating out Borg’s six titles, especially if Nadal wins them without a single loss at Roland Garros.)

Outside of the red clay of Roland Garros, Nadal has joined several other great tennis legends in winning his first Wimbledon earlier this month. But don’t forget, Michael Stich also won Wimbledon once. Same with Agassi, Hewitt, Ivanisevic, Krajicek, Cash among others.

And you know what else?

Darn, I lost my steam.

Long way down and no punch.

More to come.

cap

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