The Roger Federer - Rafael Nadal match will go down as one of the greatest in tennis history. It could have been improved with a rules change.
To anyone watching, the level of play was as great as ever seen, regardless of the circumstances. Given the circumstances - Wimbledon and a changing of the guard at the top of the sport - the two best players in the world put on a tremendous performance.
The defending champion - as great and classy as any player in history - put up a magnificent fight. When faced with match points, Federer conjured up some of his most sublime shots. After losing the first two sets, Federer seemed the better player, but just barely. And when it appeared that Nadal might, just might, crack under the rejuvenated Federer's relentless pressure in the fourth and fifth sets, the Spaniard translated some of his most creative clay-court shotmaking to the slick grass of Wimbeldon. He earned his championship through high-level play and relentless energy.
But as great as it was, the match underscored one of the most fan-challenging aspects of tennis. The length of late-in-major matches often undermines the brilliance of the play. Federer and Nadal dueled for almost five hours. Add in the rain delays, and the match lasted almost 6. In fact, since there are no lights at Wimbledon Center Court, the final point was played in near darkness, a situation not immediately apparent to the audience watching on television due to the ability of cameras to pick up ambient light. It's conceivable that the match could have been suspended, to be continued the next day.
A solution to the challenge of interminably lengthy tennis matches is relatively straight-forward. Eliminate the second serve. No other sport allows a do-over the way tennis does. In fact, there was a time that tennis was dying as a result of the Ivan Ivaniseivic's of the world (the 1980's version of Andy Roddick). Smash and volley tennis was boring to watch and hard for the average fan to enjoy. There was little drama and long periods of what amounted to inactivity. Thank goodness Andre Agassi came back to demonstrate that it was possible to return 120+mph serves. But even at this year's Wimbledon, players ole'd serves knowing that, with two chances, they'd probably win their own.
The risk-reward of a single serve means that the server has to choose to go for an all-out smash or hit a somewhat safer offering. It also means that the returner has every reason to believe he can break his opponent at any time. Without having to wait for second serves, matches will have more action, possibly be shorter and probably have more drama.
The Streak has ended at 23. Roger Federer lost to Robin Soderling in the quarterfinals of the French Open, snapping his beyond-imagination streak of playing in 23 straight Grand Slam semifinals. Only Chris Evert, who played in - get this - 34 consecutive semi-finals, has ever had such a long streak of sustained excellence.
