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ROLAND GARROS 2014 - SUNDAY 8 JUNE IP: 46.255.183.159 Posted on June 8, 2014 at 11:49:30 PM by David Barnes
ROLAND GARROS 2014
SUNDAY 8 JUNE (DAY 15)
After he beat Andy Murray in Friday’s cruel corrida de toros of a semi-final, Rafa was asked how he was going to approach the final with Novak Djokovic today. “In the end always is the same, no? If you know something special how I can prepare let me know, because the only way that I know is go back and work two days with my physio and then come back to the hotel, have dinner with the family, with the team. Practice tomorrow, try to have a good practice tomorrow. Relax a little bit in the afternoon and wake up with the right feeling. Go on court, try my best, try to have my best day and try to be very well and try to win. That's the only preparation, no? It's nothing special that you can do. Nothing that I really know”.
The sub-plot to the final in the British press was fascinating, with Pat Cash in The Sunday Times today tipping Djokovic to win, partly because he has backed him from the start of this tournament and doesn’t want to be accused of inconsistency, and partly because he thinks that “Djokovic has got right inside Nadal’s head in the past year . . . Nadal is a worrier, he frets and spends a lot of time and nervous energy on a variety of factors, from balls to court speed. I’m convinced one of them is now Djokovic”. Cash drew a parallel with when Andre Agassi finally won Roland Garros in 1999 – thus completing his collection of Grand Slam titles, a feat the Serb so desperately wants to emulate.
Simon Briggs in The Daily Telegraph was, as ever, more nuanced. Golly, he’s a good writer. He pointed out that the Nadal/Djokovic balance of power has been shifting during the fortnight, and highlighted the illness or injury fears that surrounded the Serb after his victory over Gulbis, when he took a full two hours to appear for his press conference, an unusual occurrence. Briggs included a quote from Jim Courier, “Having the day off on Saturday will benefit him [Djokovic] because you don’t want to be coming in with anything less than a full tank against Nadal”. That’s our Jim Courier – the Rene Descartes of the tennis world. So, ‘you pays your money and you takes your choice” (literally in the case of Pat Cash, if you want to read The Sunday Times in print or online).
The other sub-plot energizing the Press Room today was the announcement that Amelie Mauresmo is to be Andy Murray’s new coach. Mauresmo said at a hastily-arranged press conference; “We came up with the will from both sides to give it a shot. We all know his mother was a big part of his tennis career. Maybe he is looking for something different”. Mmmm; a Freudian psychoanalyst might say exactly the opposite. Mauresmo, at least, has nicer hair (than either Andy or Judy, come to think of it).
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic tried hard to emulate yesterday’s women’s final, with the same wafer-thin margins, the same ebb and flow, the same pugilistic intent on each side of the net, and initially the same time-line; a set apiece after roughly a couple of hours. The heat proved an adversary for both players in the 3rd set; the Serb coped less well, dropped his opening serve, failed to convert a break point at 3-2, and Rafa consolidated the early break with another at 5-2 to lead 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. This was where the match was, essentially, won; Rafa was taking the ball earlier, Djokovic was retreating towards the back of the court and hitting the ball to the Spaniard’’s forehand with depressing and unimaginative regularity. Rafa being within touching distance of his ninth title here, this proved inadvisable, even if, at this stage of the drama, there seemed to be but the lining of a matador’s cape between the two players.
Rafa took control midway through the 4th set with a service break, but Djokovic broke back immediately, the Spaniard having a disastrous game which included a double fault, and possibly his worst shot of the tournament, an attempted forehand semi-overhead smash from the baseline, that limped into the bottom of the net and allowed the Serb to draw even at 4-4. It was unfortunate when, a few minutes later, two idiots in the crowd interrupted the Serb, as he prepared to serve to stay in the match at 4-5, 30-40. He double-faulted, and Rafa sank to his knees; an appropriate physical commentary on the dramatic anticlimax to what had been an intense but ultimately unsatisfactory encounter.
Djokovic made light of it in his press conference afterwards; “In the end of the day, it's very emotional. A lot of tension going on on the court. You can feel that. I cannot find excuses in the crowd. You know, I cannot blame anybody. It's all part of the sport. Congratulations [to Rafa].He was a better player in the crucial moments. Of course it’s disappointing for me, but life goes on”.
The award ceremony was distinguished by a sustained standing ovation for the Serb, who was genuinely moved. A little late for the crowd to make amends for what had happened moments earlier, but that’s the French for you. La perfide Albion, a phrase first coined in the late 18th century in France, to describe England and the English, still has currency today, it seems.
Cedric Pioline and Fabrice Santoro wore sharp dark suits and black shoes to interview Rafa on court immediately after his win, and then we were shown a film of Bjorn Borg winning each of his titles here. He presented the trophy to the Spaniard alongside Jean Gachassin, the FFT President, who looked very dapper in a dark suit and tie; Borg chose to wear an ill-matching mid-blue jacket and trousers, and a pair of blue and white trainers. Were they, perhaps, the same ones as in the film? The great Swede is, for good reason perhaps, best known nowadays for his range of designer underwear.
Rafa’s ‘regular’ preparation for the match had, by contrast, been immaculate, and he had clearly woken up this morning with ‘the right feeling’. His love affair with Roland Garros, ‘the best tournament in the world’, as he called it in his victory speech, continues.
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David Barnes/Topspin, 2014
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