More on Wimbledon

I still can't quite get over what I saw during yesterday's Wimbledon men's final. I've been perusing through some of the analysis on the match and thought I'd share a few of the more interesting comments that I've read:

The historical perspective:
If you don't believe a casual tennis fan like myself when I wax poetic about how incredible yesterday's match was, check out what Bud Collins, a man who has been covering tennis for nearly 50 years, had to say about it:

"In my 41st year at Wimbledon I witnessed the best final I've ever seen at The Championships. Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer gave the sport a title tilt tennis may have to go another four decades or more without coming close to repeating."

Later, doing an interview with Luke Jensen for ESPN.com, Collins said the match was "right at the top" in the history of the sport. Wow.

Federer's comeback:
A lot of analysts are calling yesterday's match "a changing of the guard." Certainly, it's a clear sign that Federer can no longer dominate the sport like he was even as early as a year ago. And even though the world rankings won't indicate it, Nadal, with victories over Federer in the last two majors, is without a doubt the No. 1 player in the world.

But while there may be a new world order in tennis, did yesterday's match give anybody the impression that Federer is done? If he had lost the third-set tiebreaker and gone down to Nadal in straight sets, you could certainly make the case that Federer's career as a great athlete was likely over.

But that didn't exactly happen. Instead, facing unprecedented adversity on what had virtually become his home court, put into a normally-insurmountable deficit by a player who embarrassed him a month ago, Federer showed incredible guts. The odds were certainly stacked against him: not since 1927 has a man won a Wimbledon final after dropping the first two sets, and not since 1948 has a man won the crown after overcoming a match point.

But Federer almost did both -- in fact, he nearly overcame four match points. As WFAN radio host Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo, a passionate tennis fan and astute analyst of the sport, pointed out, Federer had to play uphill for nearly the entire match -- or, about 5 hours -- against arguably the fittest tennis player ever and came away a tough-luck, 7-9 loser in the fifth set.

You can't ask for much more effort, and this from a guy who was criticized for barely showing up to his 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 beatdown courtesy of Nadal at the French Open. Federer redeemed himself big time yesterday with a gritty effort befitting a champion, and even in defeat, he proved he isn't fading from the scene anytime soon.

Nadal's toughness:
We've always known Nadal to be a physically-imposing presence. But mentally? He proved yesterday he might have even more strength between his ears than he does on his arms.

Consider what happened to Nadal in the fourth set: Up 5-2 in the tiebreaker, with the ball on his racket, against a player who had only broken his serve once in the match to that point, Nadal couldn't close the deal. Even after Federer had come all the way back to knot the tiebreaker at 6, Nadal had another chance to shut the door, only to see Federer convert on a miraculous backhand winner down the line. Federer won the next two points to close out the set and deal Nadal what could have easily been a devastating mental blow.

As Russo noted, Nadal not only had to contend with that crushing turn of events heading into the fifth set, but because Federer got to serve first in the deciding frame, Nadal always had to make a critical hold from behind. He had to hold at 0-1, at 1-2, at 2-3, at 3-4. He then had to hold in sudden-death situations at 4-5, 5-6, and 6-7.

And he did so every single time. That, too, against arguably the greatest player in the history of the sport. That, too, just a short time after he heartbreakingly coughed up a golden opportunity to clinch a championship that, for all his prowess on clay, is the one he has always coveted the most.

That's off-the-charts mental toughness. It's the most remarkable display of fortitude and perseverance that you might ever see in a sporting event in your life -- go ahead, try to find something comparable.