On the Clay Courts in Paris....

Okay, so I seem to have gotten a bit distracted lately, and have not gotten around to the other parts of the patriotism/arrogance topic that was mentioned a bit earlier. That, plus I am about to go on a small hiatus next weekend, and so will likely not be adding anything at that point for a few days.

The thing is, it is a very exciting time in sports - more than usual! The Euro 2012 tournament just started, and this is probably the most exciting international tournament in the sport outside of the World Cup (for me, anyway). The Stanley Cup Finals are getting very interesting, although I will refrain from going to far in depth on that right now, for fear of bad luck. The NBA Finals match-up is now set, and I will write a preview on that one, most likely for tomorrow. Baseball is in full swing, although you may have noticed I rarely, if ever, write about that, since I'll admit to not being much of a fan. There were a couple of huge boxing matches recently, with undefeated and arrogant Mayweather winning in one, and Pacquiao having just lost a very controversial split decision this past weekend in a fight that (I heard) he apparently dominated - although I will have to be upfront and say that I did not actually see this fight, so cannot really weigh in with my own opinions on this matter.

Finally, there is tennis, and that will be the main focus of this particular article, because I think that this might be one of the most exciting times to be a fan of this sport. I have felt that way since perhaps 1999, when Andre Agassi (my personal favorite tennis player) won the French Open title after being long written off, thus completing a career Grand Slam (as well as the more elusive, so-called "Golden Slam"). That put him up with Pete Sampras among the most accomplished players of all time, and they were playing at the same time. It was in the year following Sampras's retirement that the Age of Federer began, and a few years after that, enter Nadal. Now, there is a new man who has entered and taken over, Djokovic. 

Last year, entering the French Open tournament, Djokovic started playing his best tennis and went into the tournament still undefeated. Djokovic ran into a brick wall in the semifinal against the great Roger Federer, but it was a bump in the road to glory last year, as Djoko (as he is affectionately called, or maybe people are just being lazy) enjoyed a banner year, en route to three Grand Slam titles, an incredibly dominant record, and the number one ranking in the world at year's end.  He had long been very good, and competed with Federer and Nadal, although usually getting the short end of the stick. But he started getting wiser, more patient. His whole approach to the game changed, and he managed to reach his life-long goal of being the number one ranked man in the world. This is a guy who grew up during the whole conflict in the former Yugoslavia, mind you, so his dedication to the game was certainly strong. 

Djokovic has now won three consecutive Grand Slam titles, and in all three of them, he defeated the same man in the final match to clinch the championship, Nadal. 

Rafa, as he is affectionately known, was the heir apparent to the great Federer, and having achieved two of three years atop the men's rankings, in 2008 and 2010, with the hiccup in between having been an injury laden season in 2009 that saw Federer reclaim his former dominance in the sport, finally achieving the career Grand Slam (only the sixth man to have achieved the feat, and the first since Agassi ten years earlier) with a French Open victory (although he did not beat the King of Clay, Nadal, to do it), and finally tying, and then surpassing, Sampras's Grand Slam standard of fourteen, en route to what now stands as a record sixteen Grand Slam championships to his name. Nadal's emergence in 2010, specifically, seemed to be a precursor of things to come, as he went on to dominate the French Open and Wimbledon, and finally won the elusive US Open title, which then gave him a career Grand Slam, becoming only the seventh man to achieve the feat, a bit more than a year after Federer finally did it, and becoming only the second man in history to have achieved the career Golden Slam the other being Agassi). 

So now, Rafa Nadal, who had expected to dominate the sport in the manner of his predecessor, Roger Federer, instead finds himself in the shadow of Djokovic, who defeated him in the final of the last three Grand Slams, which was reminiscent of the Williams sister rivalry, when they met four consecutive times (and five out of six overall) Grand Slam tournament finals, with Serene winning each and every single meeting. 

So, it was hardly a surprise when Nadal, who has won a record tying six French Open titles (Bjorn Borg also won six), is trying for what would be a record setting seventh French Open title, which would cement his status as the greatest clay court player in history. Nadal steamrolled his way to this Final, looking every bit as dominant as expected. 

In his way is Djokovic, the reining number one player in the world, and the man who has consistently beaten Nadal in the past year and a half or so. But clay is Nadal's specialty, and when Federer was atop his game and seemingly on the verge of overtaking Nadal on clay, Rafa managed to step it up and supress Roger, never losing to him at the Rolland Garros. Now, Djokovic has seemed to master Nadal specifically, but the clay courts of Rolland Garros are a different matter entirely. So, there is certainly no shortage of intrigue for this match up. 

Of course, this match has been delayed by rain, and will resume later today (1pm Paris time, 7am EST). Right now, Nadal is up, having easily won the first two sets, and grabbed an early advantage in the third, seemingly on his way to a straight sets victory. But then, very uncharacteristically, he suddenly faltered, dropping eight straight games, giving Djokovic the third set along the way, and a break in the fourth. Now, it's really intriguing! Let's see what happens the rest of the way, but they have my attention, for sure!

So, can Djoko come back and complete the career Grand Slam, and in the process, become the first man in over three decades to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time? Or will Rafa hold him off, and immortalize his status as the greatest clay court specialist ever?

Maria Sharipova managed to complete the women's final on Saturday, and in the process, reclaimed the number one ranking that she had lost some time ago, largely due to injuries. But she is back on top, and having become only the tenth woman to achieve the career Grand Slam, she immeasurably enhanced her own status as one of the all-time greats. All that, and she is seen as a virtual top model, a standard of beauty, with her long blond hair, long legs, and shapely figure. Wow!

After the clay court season, of course, comes the relatively short, but intense, grass court season, culminating in Wimbledon, of course. The most successful man on this surface among active players is Roger Federer, with six championships there (one short of Pete Sampras). Earlier, maybe a week or so ago, I wanted to do a tribute to one tennis player in particular, the great Roger Federer. Here is a man who dominated the sport like no one before. I will get to that, although this piece is starting to get a bit long for that now.