It wasn’t slaughter, but it did show, clearly, who is the best clay courter of all time. Rafael Nadal couldn’t put a foot wrong against Robin Soderling in today’s French Open final. It was brutal at times, but the biggest problem for the Swede was that he couldn’t capitalize on any of his many break point opportunities. If you can’t win the big points, then you have simply no chance against a player of Nadal’s stature.
The score looks routine, 6-4 6-2 6-4 ,but the win was nothing but. Rafa chased down point after point and Soderling got more frustrated having to hit harder and harder, and in the end it was inevitable. If Soderling could have hit more first serves it could have been a whole lot closer, but without being able to take control of the point early he looked lost, stumbling on the red and slippery clay.
Soderling said he would come back and try a third time, and he definitely has the game to do it. Even though it is bitter to lose a Grand slam final he must surely feel good, because losing to Nadal and Federer is no big shame. Hopefully he can grow even stronger by this.
Rafael Nadal is yet again French Open champion and that also makes him number one in the World in the ATP rankings. I am a Federer fan but looking at the clay court season, I would say he is worth it. Now when we go from clay to grass it will be interesting to see whether we can have Federer vs Nadal Grand Slam final again. Hopefully Wimbledon 2010 will be a classic in the standards of the 2008. For now we can only congratulate Nadal on a fantastic achievement and wish him all the best for the grass court season.
