Comment of the Weekend: Tangerine's Take

In the many insightful comments about the men's final, this one by tangerine, one of our new contributors, stands out (emphasis mine):

Roger was beat from the first break in the first game of the first set. Even though 90% of the crowd was trying to will him on Roger never gave the appearance of really being into the match, a kind of resignation from him, which is shocking. He knows how difficult it is to beat Rafa on this clay but I don't think I've ever seen him give up so quickly before either.

"This is the kind of final that results from lopsided cupcake draws."

There is some truth to this. Cupcake draws for top players can actually be a hindrance (see Sharapova at last year's USO for another example). When they finally face a dangerous opponent several matches later they simply aren't prepared for the onslaught.

"Not the best match to watch for a tennis fan like me...but it was one of Nadal's best performances..."

I've seen many comments like this one and it annoys me. I seem to recall far too many people who were utterly thrilled with Roger's virtuoso performance at [Australian Open] last year, they couldn't get enough of it, and wanted to watch his perfect once-in-lifetime performance over and over again to revel in his gloriousness. But now that it's Rafa playing the role of genius maestro and Roger the victim, suddenly the lopsided matches aren't as much fun to watch, are they?

Roger's trials and tribulations at Roland Garros vs Nadal are parallel to Roddick's vs Federer. Even the ridiculous beatdown is almost exactly the same one Roger handed to Roddick at AO last year, and both losses followed on the heels of their public statements that they were "closing the gap". Both had gone into their matches with the media hyping a potential breakthrough, only to end up losing badly in a lopsided match. Even Rafa's alien lifeform playing in this final was similar to how Roger played in the 2007 AO semi.

It was indeed a virtuoso performance. Credit to Rafa, his subdued celebration was appropriate. There was no need to rub it in Roger's face. It's bad enough Roger had to suffer through the entire match with Borg witnessing the clinical deconstruction of a future GOAT, then stand through the long trophy ceremony holding that ugly cookie sheet trophy, then pose through the photo session with a pasted-on smile, and then deal with the insulting press corps afterwards who want to know what's wrong with you, why can't you beat Nadal, and is this the beginning of the end of your career? The shoe's on the other foot now and it's feeling pretty damn tight.

I was speechless for much of the day on Sunday, and didn't find my voice until after I read this comment.

I wish I had written it.