Australian Open 2009 - Week 2
by MAC
What can I say? This was so worth all the getting up at odd hours. A hard court slam title at last.
The week started pretty early for me. I got up at 3am to watch Rafa beat Fernando Gonzalez 6-3 6-2 6-4. He had the decency to finish it off just in time for me to pop off to work which was most considerate. Hearing that Fernando Verdasco had beaten the hot favourite for the tournament (Andy Murray) gave us pause for thought as we were only too familiar with the outcome when the hot-streak player of the tournament comes up against Rafa.
That was our last sight of Rafa in daylight. Next up was Gilles Simon. We weren't entirely over-confident for this one since Simon had beaten him the last time they played. But that was against a tired Rafa towards the end of the season. It was a tougher match than any he had played so far. We were concerned by his lack of aggression until we heard that the Spanish pundits put this down to a game plan devised to prevent Simon feeding off his power. Whatever the reason it worked well and Rafa came out the winner 6-2 7-5 7-5.
So this was the one. The semi final again with the hot-streak player across the other side of the net. Would history repeat itself? It took a phenomenal 5 hours and 14 minutes to turn the tide - the longest match in the history of the Australian Open. Final score 6-7(4) 6-4 7-6(2) 6-7(1) 6-4. All credit to Fernando Verdasco for playing superb tennis and for being incredibly gracious in defeat, both on court and in his press conference after the match. A few players could take lessons from him in this area.
This left us with the big question. Could Rafa recover in time to play a good match in the final? Roger Federer had been sitting with his feet up for an extra day. We knew, though, that if anyone could recover it would be Rafa. Alarm clocks were set and we closed our ears to all the talk abut this being Federer's chance of his 14th slam. Many of us prepared a nice comfy place behind the sofa and settled down to "enjoy" the final. Much better writers than I have analysed the match so all I can say is how pleased I am that Rafa's guts and determination saw him beat Roger Federer 7-5 3-6 7-6(3) 3-6 6-2 to gain his first Australian Open title. I won't dwell on the things said by some commentators, or at the trophy ceremony, because anger is a destructive emotion. The bottom line is that Rafa now holds a grand slam title on three surfaces. No-one has been able to win on grass, clay and hard courts since Andre Agassi - and he did not manage that feat in a 12 month period.
It won't change him, though, as this answer from his post match press conference shows -
"I just win for sure an important title for my careera. But I no better five hours before than now, no? That's the true, no? When you win an important match, but you have to know before the match who you are and after the match you have to know who you are, too. You are the same, no?"
