Roland Garros: Men's Final

[poliphilo]

Great tennis matches occur when both players are firing on all cylinders at the same time. There wasn't a whole lot of that yesterday. First Nadal was dominant, then Djokovic, then rain stopped play. D threw his racket and broke a bench, N got into a strop because the rain was misting his contact lenses. Play continues today, weather permitting. 

Sport is also about character. A game is not only a game but a morality play. On this occasion Djokovic (brief explosions of temper followed by immediate repentance) made a better showing than Nadal (prolonged adolescent sulkiness and voluble ill-humour). 

Comments

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

AND then Rafa won. I am sorry, I feel as though he had a perfect right to complain. They'd been playing in the rain for nearly an hour before they decided to stop play. The clay was caking. And when they finally DID stop play, his questions (the conditions are the same now as they have been for the last hour, why did you stop NOW and not an hour ago?) seemed valid to me.

Djokovic is a poor sport, but as it turns out not as bad a sport as Roger Federer.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've never warmed to Djokovic and wanted Rafa to win but found his churlishness of-putting. Yes, he had a reason to complain, but he didn't have to go on and on about it.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

which is something of which he is seldom guilty, unlike a lot of other players. He REALLY wanted and needed the win. I doubt you will see a performance like that from him again any time soon (I mean his churlishness). And now, he is in the history books.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's true- and I'm happy for him. And at only 26 I don't see why he shouldn't add to his tally at Roland Garros.