LEGEND. Federer goes beyond greatness with 18th slam

By
Mark Hall
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When Roger Federer decided to skip the second part of the 2016 season, many gave him for half retired. Once again, the greatest silenced his detractors after winning his 18th slam against his nemesis Rafael Nadal.

Today Roger has written one of the best pages in tennis history. The Swiss legend surprised everyone after reaching this final following two five-setters against Nishikori and Wawrinka, but he went beyond everything in the final against Rafa.

 

The match

After winning the first set (6-3), Roger suffered from one of his amnesias in the second set to trail 0-4 down in no time. Eventually, the King broke Rafa back (4-1), but it was too late to lose the second set 6-3. 

Things got really ugly for the Swiss at the beginning of the 13th set when it seemed as he was completely at Nadal’s mercy and ready to fold. Eventually, Roger won an awkward first game on his serve almost by chance, but then, out of the blue, he broke Rafa soon after to gain a decisive 3-0 lead that gave the set to Federer (6-3). 

In the fourth set, Rafa won the decisive break in the 4th game before winning 6-3, and things got extremely interesting soon after…

 

The 5th set

Roger got a medical time-out at the beginning of the decider and, with a Rafa on fire, he was the clear underdog. Federer was struggling to contain Rafa from the baseline, and when he wasn’t able to use his first serve, he was constantly bullied by the Spaniard. Roger was immediately broken to be 0-2 down, and he looked hopeless. But Roger is the greatest not by chance, and the Swiss managed to stay with Rafa that had to save a break point in the 4th game before holding (1-3… and that was the last game won by the Mallorcan). 

The crucial moment of the match was the 6th game when Federer finally managed to break back Rafa before holding serve (4-3). The Swiss displayed an outstanding tennis in the 8th game after he broke Rafa again after the Spaniard defended four break points like a lion (2 consecutive from 0-40). 

Everything looked good for Roger, but the world no.17 (???) had to face two consecutive break points (15-40) when he was serving for the championship. Roger kept his cool to save them and win the match at the second championship point. The final score was 6-4 3-6 6-1 3-6 6-3.



Why Roger won?

As we said and forecasted, Federer has a bad history against Rafael Nadal, but the Swiss is better on fast courts (indoor and grass in primis), and this specific court “helped” Roger to escape from the famous deadly combination RAfa’s forehand vs. Roger’s backhand. Also, Roger looked sharper than Rafa in his comeback. Eventually, everything went down to a couple of points, but these factors were essential.

It couldn’t be a better written sorry for the King, but Chapeau also to a fantastic Nadal that has put up a huge battle.





 

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