LONDON 2010--Endgame

Once again, we were treated with Rafael Nadal versus Roger Federer in the final match of the ATP year end championships.

A brilliant semifinal win for Nadal over Murray in some of the cleanest ball-striking that I saw during the entire year. Murray and Nadal are likely the two best "grinders" on tour these days, and they both realized early on that offense would be required to win. Nadal created just a bit more of that to edge Murray 86 in the 3rd set tiebreaker. If you get the chance, watch this match again when the Tennis Channel shows it on replay. Great Tennis!

Federer basically walked all over the field en route to the finals. Straight set round robin wins over Ferrer, Murray, and Soderling yielded a semi final match where he easily handled Djokovic by a 61 64 count.

I picked Nadal to win, primarily because Federer had yet to prove that he could handle the high bouncing Nadal FH to his own one-handed BH. So what happened? For two of the three sets, Federer generally disdained his underspin BH for the 1st time in my memory and came over his BH, even at chest and shoulder height, hitting numerous winners. I am not sure but I even think Nadal mentally cracked late in the 3rd, something I KNOW I have never, ever seen!

The win by Federer is good for the game of Tennis. It keeps alive a rivalry, forces Nadal to get better(and you had better believe he will!), and gives Federer the belief in his new coach(Paul Annacone) and his ability to re-capture the world #1 ranking.

Makes for a good 2011!

Looking forward to the Australian Open!