What a final!

Hi folks,
I decided to write something else in my blog other than my boring stats about my running. What a final that we had on Sunday. Nadal vs Federer. I thought the last year final was the best that I watched. But this year's one eclipsed that one. I like Nadal for his determination to return every single ball to the other side of the net. Stats will say that Federer made more unforced errors. But the truth is that Nadal forced Federer to go for the lines and hence he made more errors.
Federer made a great comeback after he lost the second set. The shots that he played to save some match points were truly sublime. My favourite moment is in the fourth set tiebreak. At 7-7, with Federer serving and with Federer all over that point, Nadal hit an impossible forehand passing shot as Federer was approching the net. Then the next point Fed hit an even better passing shot with his backhand down the line to save the match point. It was great tennis. How they must have felt ? We can't even think of such an experience. See the following video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKBRKok4Ltg
In the end Nadal's determintation and single mindedness won the day for him. Ofcourse, he played some amazing shots to beat Federer. I like Federer for his unbelievable shot making skills. I am in fact a Federer fan. I want Fed to win the French open which now seems increasingly difficult. But now after this final, I simply admire Nadal for his fighting spirit. He has become one of my sporting heroes.
I always preferred sportsmen with never say die attitude than the ones with more skill. Steve Waugh to Tendulkar for example. In sports, whatever one says , one always plays to win. In batting, the sole purpose is not to give your wicket. It doesn't matter if you take a short ball on your ribs than hooking and getting caught.( Stolen from Stevewaugh's autobiography). Same in tennis, put the ball across the net with a single handed backhand or a double handed one.
Vamos Nadal ! I am desperate to get back at IMSc and play some tennis. It doesn't matter if I play with the guy who considers him an artist or the guy who is really an artist but also a master at breaking racquets or with the one who can read about deformation quantization all day but can't run for 12 fucking minutes in the treadmill.

ssundar