NADAL Defeats FEDERER in Hard-Fought 5-Setter Australian Final

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The Australian Open is the first of the four Grand Slam tournaments of the season, but it provided some of the best tennis you’re likely to see this entire year. Much of it was in this year’s men’s final between Spain’s Rafael Nadal and Switzerland’s Roger Federer, the number one and two ranked players in the world, respectively.

Much was at stake in this match for each man. Federer was hoping to match Pete Sampras’ Majors titles [14] and regain his number one ranking. Nadal was looking for his first Major hardcourt trophy.

In a 4-plus hour, slugfest, Nadal managed to prevail over Federer with nearly physics-bending shot-making coming from both sides of the net. The final match score: 7-5, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-2. In the end, the fresher Federer seemed to run out of the energy that many feared Nadal would, due to his marathon semi-final match less than two days prior against fellow countryman Fernando Verdasco.

Nadal-Federer is THE rivalry in tennis, now, and is starting to eclipse those of days gone, especially when they meet in Grand Slam finals such as this. These two bring to mind McEnroe and Borg or Sampras and Agassi. Of course, today’s tennis comes with very little net-play, more power, and one heck of a lot more racket technology. Don’t let any of the set-scores fool you, though. This was a battle all the way, with each man throwing his all into each shot, sometimes resulting in some spectacular misses, but in many more amazing hits.

Perhaps this rivalry is all the more fun to watch because Nadal and Federer are such a contrast of types. Federer, the debonair one, who seems to effortlessly produce precision and power with a flick of the wrist. And Nadal, the bronzed Hercules of the baseline, charging about the court like a scowling rooster. No matter who you are, you have a champ to root for when you watch these two.

Nadal, once thought of as a pure clay-courter, proved himself able to train and adjust for different surfaces with his Wimbledon win last year (also against Federer). Once again, on the hard courts of the Australian Open, he has shown us that no surface is beyond his skills, and he is a threat to win any tournament he cares to enter.

If you were lucky enough to catch this match live [starting at 3:30 am for this East-Coaster American], then you couldn’t keep your sleep-deprived eyes from it. If you missed it, it will be re-broadcast during normal waking hours on ESPN2 and most likely on many highlight reels to come.