Tennis: First Week of Grand Slams, Demons Eating Away Their Charm?

So, Nadal wins another. After two weeks of speculation about his lack of confidence and him not being at his best, he came out on top when it mattered. The man on the other side fought hard as he always does.

He lost as he always does.

We talk continuously about the great rivalry between Nadal and Federer and how it has been good for tennis in general. We have seen great rivalries in the past too (most recently Agassi-Sampras) but there is one thing that is distinctly different in this case. That is the almost complete absence of the ‘third party’.

Sampras and Agassi did dominate tennis for long but there were always a set of players to spice it up. They had to face numerous challenges from a huge set of players (Roddick, Henman, Rafter, even Philippoussis and Haas) and they had to fight continuously to reach later stages of tournaments. Sometimes they won, sometimes they didn’t. Watching the majors were fun from day one.

This is not so anymore. Take this Rolland Garros for an example. I am a die-hard Nadal fan but it doesn’t take an expert to realize that he has never been so vulnerable in his life. Four defeats to Djokovic had done the damage and mentally rock solid Nadal showed some cracks. Even then no one could defeat him. Is he really that good or are others that bad or is it something else.

One of my friends who has just started following tennis was of view that the rest of the players are not that skilled as players were before.

Really? Murray, Del-potro, obviously Djokovic, Soderling, Roddick, Ferrer. 

No-one? C’mon.

It is all in the mind as they say.

A few years back Federer had created such a demon with his consistent god-like play that players lost half the match before even stepping on the court. The fact that he could be defeated was seen only in theory. Then came Nadal who showed the world that it could be done.

God could bleed. He exposed Federer’s weakness which even the great Agassi accepted he thought didn’t exist.  Suddenly Federer started facing stiff competition from others in the ‘other’ tournaments. Yet still, at slams, he prevailed.

Nadal on clay has done a similar thing. He perhaps created an even bigger demon. Winning matches year after year after year. Then Djokovic brought Goliath down by finding few chinks in his armor and defeated him quite convincingly twice on his surface. Nadal lost his confidence and felt exposed.

Soderling and Murray had their best chance to defeat the king. They lost in straight sets. Even weak Nadal was better than them. Or was it the demon, one who fights over each and every point, point after point, consistently wearing his opponents out mentally and then physically. They lost the match to the demon, the legend and not to the man.

And that is sad for tennis.

Though it is easier to say that you should play ball rather than the man, we all know that is not completely possible. Obviously when the best players are at their best you cannot do anything but appreciate them from the other side. But no one can be at their best every time, there will be days when their few shots will hit the net, forehands will just miss the line and legs will feel heavy. ’They’ should make it count. Don’t let them take early rounds for granted, make their fans gasp and pray, believe they can be defeated. And then even first day of majors will be fun as it was before.

As it is meant to be.

P.S: Even after Djokovic's tremendous feat, his achievements are still less significant if we take last the last six years or so into account.