Feder-Nadal Is Yankees-Red Sox Or ManU-Chelsea
One immutable truth emerged from Wednesday’s men’s quarters: the Big Two are so far apart from the rest of the field (Novak Djokovic’s objection is immediately raised) that the men’s game is a race within a race.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal obliterated their foes; Rafa taking down a top-10 player (Andy Murray) so thoroughly as to render his five-set comeback career changing win in the fourth round irrelevant.
Sign up for my RSS FeedFederer and Nadal are ManU and Chelsea. They are the Yankees and Red Sox – in good years. They are the kings; Rafa owns clay, Roger owns hard courts and the grass is looking more like a tossup despite Roger’s five consecutive titles.
Mario Ancic had precedent in his corner as the last man to best Fed on grass. Three games into their quarter, it was clear that the 2002 result would never be repeated. The King served impeccably, dropping only 10 points. Ancic was destroyed in the first set, fought back after a two-hour rain delay to play with passion but never made a dent on Federer’s serve.
Tickets for the Nadal-Murray affair started at $3000 on the broker’s market. England was captivated by a marriage certified Monday night on Centre Court; Murray bonding with his fans for the first time.
Could the recently maturing Murray enter the “big time” with a resounding match in the biggest moment of his career?
Nadal has made his living the last 3 years smothering such hopes and dreams. Murray fell as many before him, working so hard to hold serve only to see Nadal, with a better serve yet few aces, be unbreakable. When Murray became engaged in baseline rallies, Nadal would uncork a winner from unfathomable positions, no different than if he was rolling in the red clay.
The general theme of the BBC commentary was that Murray simply wasn’t ready to match up with Nadal.
But who is?
And with Federer for that matter?
These are the two Kings. Djokovic may demand his place in a troika, but he must another major first. I am a Federer fan for Rafa has yet to prove his worth on the hard courts that dominate the tour. But it would be an utter shock, despite Marat Safin’s resume and 2005 upset of Fed in the Aussie semis, to see anything but a third straight Wimbledon final between the Kings.
This is a glorious time in tennis. Those of us blessed to watch and chronicle this should be grateful to have another Bjorn Borg-John McEnroe or Pete Sampras-Andre Agassi in our midst. We know it will be short-lived, that the game will claim these greats sooner rather than later thus we need to treasure them now. 
