Rob McLean - The great Federer-Nadal rivalry is stalling
"And let that be a lesson to you all. Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row," so memorably said by the late, great flamboyant American after finally defeating Jimmy Connors at the 1979 Masters in New York.
Fast forward to the modern equivalent, the ATP end-of-season World Championships, and Nikolay Davydenko, the Mr Anonymous of the top crop of players, now knows how Vitas must have felt after he finally got the better of Roger Federer, the world No 1, at the 13th attempt.
More importantly, he won nearly £1 million with victory over Juan Martin del Potro in the final.
The expression 'triumph over adversity' could have been coined for the Russian. who admitted he nearly retired from the game amid allegations about him being involved in a betting scandal – of which he was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Apart from the embarrassing confusion over who was going to qualify for the last four at the O2 Arena, and the ridiculously late evening sessions when everyone missed the last tube, the event was a great success - full houses and a series of exciting, unpredictable matches.
None of the top four players made the final and all will have issues before the start of next season at the Australian Open in Melbourne.
But have we seen the last of one of the great rivalries of all time - Federer and Rafael Nadal?
Federer ends the year as No 1 after two Grand Slam wins and runner up in the other two but he may be slightly perturbed to have come up short in his last four events.
Nadal is a different story. He is in crisis. A year ago he had the world at his feet and Federer in tears at the Aussie Open; now the Spaniard will be desperate to win another tournament - any tournament.
Nadal's last title was the Rome Masters in May and since then has had only one victory against a top 10 player.
During this period he has been beset with injury problems. Off the court it hasn't been any easier with his parents about to get divorced. Apart from that, he is fine!
However, he won't have much time to feel sorry for himself and must bounce back for the forthcoming Davis Cup final against the Czech Republic in Barcelona.
His main team-mate, Fernando Verdasco, is also short of victories. They won't get any sympathy from Radek Stepanek, the Czech No 1 who is tenacious and irritating on court in equal measures, as Tim Henman and Andy Murray have found in the past.
As for the remaining two of tennis's big four, Murray will be thankful for small mercies as he keeps his No 4 world ranking by dint of Del Potro losing the final.
This makes, in theory, a slightly smoother path to a possible first Grand Slam next month. As predicted, Novak Djokovic, the form player of the last three months, eventually ran out of steam but will be one the favourties come January.
BRIT WATCH: Poor Murray. The next few months are not going to get any easier. Not only will the press be cranking up the pressure for him to win his first Grand Slam, but they will be monitoring his every move to see who his next girlfriend will be after his break from Kim Sears. For the time being he is shopping with his Mum, Judy, and the pair were spotted, according to a tabloid, buying an ironing board in Kingston, Surrey.
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Date published :
01 Dec 2009 - 09:42:29
