Nadal wins, Djokovic loses and Federer debuts THE SWEATER

Tag : Pashmina Sweater
Cheryl Murray Nadal wins, Djokovic loses and Federer debuts THE SWEATER
2008-06-27 16:53:00
May and June pass in a flurry of activity in the tennis world. Withthe French Open and Wimbledon occurring within a month of eachother, we tennis people have little down time. That's whatWimbledon rain delays are for. During the first delay during TheChampionships, I began to ruminate on what has happened since theFrench Open ended.

The big news of course, is that Rafael Nadal won Queens, his firstever grass court title. And he won it against some serious grasscourt competition, which undoubtedly makes certain top players alittle nervous (whether they'll admit it to the press or not). I'veread some hilarious attempts at explaining how Nadal pulled offsuch a feat. Queens is a fast surface, after all (quicker thanWimbledon) and the unwritten laws that govern the sport mandatethat Nadal should not be able to win there. Thus excuses abound.

The most amusing was the suggestion that Nadal had become soaccustomed to winning that he (I'm laughing as I write this) forgothow to lose. It wouldn't be so funny, I suppose, if he hadn't had asimilarly successful clay season for four years running. He seemedto remember how to lose at Queens just fine in 2006 and 2007. Maybethat writer was suggesting that Rafa's memory is going