THE FEDAL YEAR
Sometimes we experience real joy when we turn back pages of a book just to read our most favourite part. That’s what exactly happened when Two most loved tennis legends came back to their top game. Last year tennis fans would have given away anything to watch their favourite players at the top, this year we got it. The comeback from injury breaks proved just like a fairytale for both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. 2017 is the year when both Federer and Nadal won two Grand Slams each out of all four, dividing it in perfect 50-50. As this has never happened before, fans all over, are calling it “FEDAL SLAM”. But not just slams, the whole year has a mark of Fedal over it. That’s the reason, for the Tennis, it’s a FEDAL YEAR.
Since the very start of the year, both players gave us the glimpse of their return and how fabulous year fans will have ahead. In the very first Grand slam of the year, Australian open we were treated with the final between two giants. They had played last a grand slam final in 2011 and after gap of 6 years, we witnessed the final we wanted most. After the mouth watering encounter, Federer took his Grand Slam tally to 18 with a win over his long time rival. From there on, Federer and Nadal are back in all (positive) talks related to Tennis. Even though in last few years we didn’t get much of Fedal matches, but this year they fulfilled our quota.
Australian Open 2017
The happy run that started in Australia, was continued throughout the year. Although Federer skipped all the Clay season (which has always given him a trouble), it was as tennis fans wished for. King Nadal returned to his Kingdom and dominated it fully. Nadal was on cloud '10' as he completed "La Decima” back to back in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and then in French Open. Just a month after, Wimbledon ended just like the crowd of Queen’s Club loves it. While Nadal fell short in 4th round, all time favourite for Grass, Mr. Federer, walked away with the Golden trophy from the Centre Court. When we reached the US Open, fans hoped for Fedal Semifinal, but those hopes were squashed by Juan Martin Del Potro when he beat Federer in Quarterfinals. But he couldn’t stop Nadal from winning the title. And US Open still remains the only tournament where they never played each other. Apart from this, both won 5 tournaments each.
10th Crown at Roland Garros
With this, all four majors have names of either Federer or Nadal as a Champion. At the end of all four grand slams Federer’s Grand Slam tally is at (Highest ever) 19 and Nadal is following closely with 16. It is true as well that, any of the players, even Murray and Djokovic fell short in matching the standards of Fedal. Murray and Djokovic did not play all the slams. Some say this makes it easier for Fedal, but it takes lot of determination, hard work and love towards tennis to conquer 2 majors a year at the age of 36 and 31. They were better than anyone who came in their paths. Fan or not it is worth appreciating.
The major part of tennis year is now finished. Federer who started the year as 16th is now world number 2 and Nadal who was 9th in the world at the start, now stands at the top. They have scaled to top from the deep troubles of various types of injury. Even though they have reached age that is considered as ‘age of retirement’ in tennis, they are engaged in raising tennis standards , polishing their skills and bettering their records. Such is the dominance of Fedal over Tennis world. Their fans may fight endlessly but both set of fans know in their heart of hearts, both of them are great in their own way and need not be compared. Thank you so much to both of them for making a comeback worth remembering. Thank you so much for turning back the time wheel and reminding everyone how the Golden Era of tennis is.
Image via:Wimbledon
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