2011 French Open and a bit of Tennis History

As the French Open fades into the past, and we look forward to the onset of Wimbledon in just 12 days, an observational lesson from the Men's Final. Despite the brilliant five months of undefeated play by Novak Djokovic, the French Final was once again a Rafael Nadal vs Roger Federer match up, thanks to the brilliant and bold shot-making effort by Federer in the semi-final vs Djokovic.

In the Final, once again Nadal was victorious despite, at times, a flurry of greatness from Federer. On Clay this match up always seem to be "same old, same old", as Nadal loops his lefthanded FH crosscourt to the Federer one-handed BH. Seemingly to the point of boredom. I mean 4 sets of running the same play over and over. Well, it has produced a 12-2 advantage over the years on clay!

Which brings to mind the point Bill Tilden "hammered" home in his classic tennis book, Match Play and Spin of the Ball. Published in 1925, Tilden made the statement, "Always change a losing game, and NEVER change a winning game".

Bill Tilden was an early American great Tennis Player. During his amateur career from 1912-30, he won 14 Grand Slams, and won 138 of 192 tournaments played, including a match winning percentage of 93.6%. He turned Professional in 1931 and was one of the pioneers in establishing tennis as a professional sport.

Bill Tilden in action:

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=4676

Nadal is an obvious proponent of Tilden's rule. So while the content of the claycourt matches between Federer and Nadal are amazingly similar and perhaps tedious, let's remember and appreciate that we have the opportunity to be watching two of the all time great players ply their skills. I know I can appreciate the amazing brilliance of Federer's racquet artistry, and at the same time marvel in Nadal's ability to blunt Federer's shot-making with sheer doggedness, effort, and execution of a game plan.

Many will wonder how Djokovic would have fared with his two-handed shot to foil Nadal's FH? I think that would have been, and will be, quite interesting, but until proven otherwise, I am opting to stick with Nadal's "physicality", especially in a best of five Grand Slam situation.

On to Wimbledon!