French Open Thoughts

Watched Federer win his first French Open yesterday morning in straight sets over Robin Soderling. Yes, he's won 14 slams and now owns one on each surface, but you just can't name the guy the best of all time if he may not even be the best of his era. He's a career 7-13 against Nadal, including a miserable 2-5 in slam finals. I absolutely love watching him and hate to see him so unequivocally owned by Nadal. (And it's also not like he's completely anemic on clay... this is his fourth Roland Garros final, not to mention he's won several lesser clay court titles.) But losing last year's Wimbledon final and this year's Australian Open to his similarly headbanded nemesis may prevent Federer from ever being unanimously considered the greatest ever. If Nadal had made this year's French final and Federer could have dispatched him on his own surface, Fed probably could have ridden off into the sunset in the next year or two. As it stands though, Federer unfortunately rests about at the midlife crisis stage of his sport's famously mayfly-like career length and nears the autumn of his playing days. It is unlikely he will be able to seize back control of his rivalry with Nadal and unfortunately, after 2008, he will forever be deemed inferior to Rafa even on the surface he owns, the grass of Wimbledon. I only hope he can eventually call it quits on his own terms and avoid lingering in pursuit of the signature, perception-changing win over Nadal he needs but more than likely will never achieve.

Having missed out on the Aussie Open and lacking the Tennis Channel, the past fortnight was my first opportunity to watch tennis this year. I was very pleased with Nike's new tennis apparel line, sported by Federer, Nadal, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams and others. The predominant bright neon colors were a nice foil to the Wimbledon-mandated whitewash we will see in a month or so on the grass of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The all white is actually one of my favorite traditions, very classy, fun to see once a year.

Back to Rafael Nadal... it appears he has thankfully abandoned the 3/4-length shorts affectionately called clamdiggers by Dick Enberg which he introduced into male tennis culture with his rise to stardom, as well as his trademark cutoff shirts, in favor of the classic polo shirt and a pair of regular, cut above the knee shorts. He actually donned a great color combo consisting of an electric pink shirt with a slight yellow stripe that matched his yellow sweat and head bands (seen here )... a vast improvement upon the putrid greens he was so fond of in years past (like this ). The ensembles of Federer, Sharapova and Serena displayed similar healthy injections of bright color, which appears to be the direction Nike is heading with their tennis gear at the present moment.