wow. now, it's no secret that i don't like rafael nadal, i don't like his style of play (although i have to admit he's pretty good), his greasy hair, his contorted facial expressions, his sleeveless shirts and capri pants (although he gave that up this year for equally annoying pink shirts), and most importantly, his butt-digging before each serve. but i think the thing i don't like most about him is that he's the perfect foil for roger federer... and i like roger.
for the past four years nadal has beaten roger federer in the french open. once during the semifinals (in 2005, the first french open nadal ever played) and three times during the finals. so i think it's pretty safe to say that if nadal hadn't been standing in his way, federer would have the career grand slam by now. well, this year it's on because nadal was beaten in the round of 16 by robin soderling.
it was a great match to watch, partly because soderling played pretty spectacularly (blasting nadal off the court) and partly just because nadal finally lost (after being 31-0 at the french open before this match). for the past four years (seems like at least) i've been trying to find someone to root for who could take out nadal (besides roger, because nadal's just got his number). tennis is all about match-ups and roger's game just doesn't match up to nadal's. in the past the guys who have given nadal trouble have been the ones who've really taken it to him, blasting shots and pushing nadal (even farther) back behind the baseline. someone with huge power, someone tall enough to handle nadal's high-kicking forehands, someone who actually isn't ranked that high, but can have a huge day if he's on for three or four sets. mikhail youzhny was one of the first to do so, then later on djokovic showed some signs, and juan martin del potro (a 6'6' guy with a two-handed backhand) did it earlier this year, but finally soderling came through. nadal and soderling had a great 5-set match at wimbledon two years ago... it wasn't the most sportsman-like match (soderling publically made fun of nadal's butt-digging, which was great, and totally got in his head), but it was good to see someone (besides roger) go out there and impose himself on nadal and show that he wants to beat him (not just that they want to win). this french open match didn't have much of that animosity, but it was a high-quality match for sure.
so, now that nadal's out, i'm pulling even harder for federer. i always thought that even though federer's clearly the second best clay-courter on tour, he would need help to win the french open. but i always thought that help would come from nadal's knees giving out on him or from someone like djokovic pulling him to some exhausting, 5-set semifinal before federer could finally beat him in a final. and knowing roger, he'd probably say to the press that he would have liked to beat the man who beat him for the past four years at this tournament for his first french open title, but inside i know he's popping a bottle of champange tonight. no way he's in any way sorry that nadal's out of the tournament early. so here we go roger, if he can win the french he'll not only gain the career grand slam (he's already got us open, aussie open, and wimbledon titles) but he'll tie pete sampras' all-time record of 14 grand slam titles, so go roger!
ps - in other tv news (and because i'd really feel embarrassed if i devoted a whole post to it), last night i watched the season finale of "the hills." haha. i got sucked into it because of lauren, i think she's way hot. she's got like the sweetest expressions. i mean, i have no idea what she's actually like because that "reality" show is entirely scripted i'm sure, so i'm not deluding myself to believe that anything that happens on that show actually happens, but it was a nice guilty pleasure at least. but last night's episode was lauren's last one, she's moving on to other things, but they're still gonna keep the show running? NO WAY would i watch it if lauren's not on it, now THAT would be truly embarrassing.
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