Wimbledon Wowser

I had a relatively quiet and relaxed Fourth of July weekend. I worked Friday morning and then did some occasional cleaning and reorganizing of rooms and closets, but on Sunday afternoon I, along with the rest of the tennis watching world, was treated to one of the single greatest sporting events to ever occur. The 2008 Wimbledon Men's Final between 5-Time Champion and World #1 Roger Federer and the 4-Time French Open Champion and World #2 Rafael Nadal was epic and engaging. Over the course of 4 hours and 48 minutes of playing time, not including over 2 hours of scattered rain delay, Nadal was able to end Federer's landmark streak in a grueling and brilliant 6-4,6-4,6-7(5),6-7(8),9-7 win. It marks Nadal's first Championship at Wimbledon after reaching and being defeated by Federer in 2006 and 2007. He is also the first Spanish player to win at the All England Club since Manolo Santana in 1966.

Incidentally Spain is having a pretty good year sports wise, with Nadal winning both the French Open and now Wimbledon in the same year(first time a player has done that since Bjorn Bjorg in 1980) and recently their national soccer team won the UEFA Euro Cup for the first time since 1962.

But back to Wimbledon. It was such a perfectly played and evenly matched game. Felt like it could just go on and on forever, neither player giving-in or giving-up. I may still be more fond of some great Pete Samprass/Andre Agassi matches of my youth but I have feeling that with time this match might resonate with me even more. Both Nadal and Federer exemplify class and sportsmanship. Coaches all over the country of every sport imaginable should be showing this match to their players. I haven't even mentioned the fact that there was a pretty fantastic Women's final on Saturday between sister superstars Venus and Serena Williams with Venus coming out on top for her 5th Wimbledon Singles Championship. Later that same afternoon the sisters paired up and won the Doubles Title together. Again I say, coaches should be looking to the Williams' sisters as the type role models that aspiring athletes need these days. (And don't try to dump any of the crazy dad baggage on them, it's not their fault what he does or how he acts and if that upsets some people often times, including myself)