I'm Not Really Bored

During the Rome final, I wrote that I was approaching boredom with Rafael Nadal winning everything so convincingly, but that I wasn't quite there yet. I couldn't put my finger on exactly why. So Steve had to tell me:

Nadal approaches each match as if winning it is a new goal line to cross, rather than something to be afraid of losing. In this sense, he’s like Michael Jordan, who set out to prove himself again every day. But Nadal's ambition isn’t as hard-edged as Jordan’s. Rafa doesn’t want to embarrass his opponent (unless, perhaps, his name is Soderling); he wants more than anything to feel that addictive sense of joy and relief that we all feel every time we win a tennis match. Allowing himself to soak that feeling in for a second gives him one more reason to try his absolute best to make it happen. I said earlier that the old-school way to win has always been to act like you’ve been there before. Nadal has successfully turned that on its head. He wins by acting like he’s never been there before.

Hammer hit nail. The outcome of the clay events Rafa enters has been virtually a foregone conclusion for years now, but watching a player act as though he just won his first title on clay every time he wins one keeps the boredom at bay.