Memorable French Open Moments: Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal, 2008 final

‘It’s the strongest Rafa that I’ve ever seen. He was more dominant than the previous years.’  - Roger Federer on Rafael Nadal after the latter’s French Open victory in 2008.

I acknowledge myself as both a Federer and Nadal fan. But there was a time, not so long ago, when I used to love the former with as much as fervour as I used to deride the latter. The 2008 French Open final was right in the middle of those deriding moments. After all, who can forget their idol being clobbered on the tennis court in one of the most one-sided matches that could have ever been seen?

It was annihilation, pure and simple. Today, the word comes out as a compliment but back then, it was lashed out with frustration. For frustrating it was to see Federer being edged out slowly but steadily throughout the course of the match. From start to finish, Rafa was merciless, offering no alternatives for Federer to even try and get in back to the match. On that day, Rafa was invincible with a quality of play-making that surpassed his own aptitude on the surface, as seen in the previous years.

Nothing appeared to faze him; he was living in the moment and revelling in it with absolute glory. Before him, Federer appeared nearly weather-beaten with a demeanour that seemed to shrink with each passing moment. Rafa’s forehand, always the weapon of choice against Federer, took on even more lethality as the match proceeded. And Federer’s arsenal, always so fabled, suddenly seemed inadequate to deal with the onslaught that Rafa peppered him with.

Prior to the start of the match, expectations went soaring about the contest involving these two rivals. A rivalry, that began four years ago on this very surface and which completely altered the predicted trajectory of men’s tennis from there on. But these expectations came crashing down right after the first set, a set that saw Federer struggle to come up with a decent response to Rafa’s bombardment.

Quite the aggressor from the very start, Rafa began with the set with a break. And in no time after that, he was serving for it, winning it comfortably, 6-1. Right then, the match’s fate seemed to be sealed in Rafa’s favour. Federer’s drooping body-language didn’t help matters at all, as the second set began almost the same way as the first,  with a break of serve by the Spaniard, right in the first game. As Rafa raced to a 2-0 lead in the second set, it was then that Federer came up with some remnants of retaliation. A counter-break and consolidation ensured that the set was tied 2-2.

However, as flashing as that bit of retaliation was, it was blown away almost immediately, leaving Federer yet again grasping for straws. But hope of a fight-back still lingered. Maybe, just maybe, the crowd thought, Federer would do something different in the third considering that his loss in the second set was far more respectable than that in the first.

Giving due credit to Roger Federer, on any other day, he might have even turned the match around completely. But what he could have otherwise achieved would have invariably fallen short on that day. So much so that no other player, let alone Federer, could have come close to snatching victory from the Spaniard. It was as if Rafa’s victory was pre-destined. Not by any God or any other super-power, but by Rafa himself. That he would leave no stone unturned in his quest for his fourth French Open glory.

This is why, then, that the ending of the match seems befitting, even after all these years. Harsh and disappointing yes, but befitting the then 22-year-old’s determination. 6-1, 6-3, 6-0, the match scorecard read. A scorecard that set the course of the remainder of the 2008 tennis season. The 2008 French Open marked the start of new beginnings. The points’ gap between the top two seeds narrowed even more, making Federer suddenly vulnerable as the world no.1 after four years of undisputed rule. A month later, as Rafa went on to win the Wimbledon final in what would be regarded as one of the finest tennis matches to be ever played, the Spaniard had finally come full circle.

Where four years ago he had come unannounced and gone on to become a source of intimidation on clay, Rafa’s 2008 French Open victory was a proclamation in itself, as it was the perfect stage set for his future heroics.

Is that why I started supporting Rafa? Thinking he was the rightful heir to tennis’s fiefdom? Not really. That came later and for a totally different reason. Where the world makes exaggerated statements and polite gestures, it’s Rafa who lends new meaning to the word ‘courtesy.’ It’s for this heartfelt courteousness that he always displays, in victory and in defeat, that I support him. And for the Federer fan in me, it’s this courteousness of Rafa that prompted him to say ‘Sorry Roger’ after the match that makes his victory memorable.