Friday, September 17, 2010

AO 2010 - Could it be the last?

After the recent crowning of new US Open 2010 champion Rafael Nadal, I can't help but think was AO 2010 Roger's last Grand Slam trophy of his career?  For now, I'm quite confident that the answer is still unclear even though it will definitely gradually lean on to "Yes, It is." until Roger wins another Grand Slam title.

A couple of reasons why we should not discount Roger even with his subpar, unroger-like 2010 performance.  (If you consider 1 Grand Slam title, 2 QF appearances, and 1 SF appearance subpar.... which can already be considered as any tennis player's dream season ).
  1. Roger is still winning tournaments (AO 2010 and Cincinatti Masters).  But he was just not as dominating as he was which gave us the illusion that he's losing his game.
  2. Remember the forgettable 2008 season? Where Roger lost to Djokovic in AO 2008 semi finals, lost to Nadal in Roland Garros and Wimbledon finals, lost to James Blake in the Olympics, and lost his No. 1 spot in the rankings.  But then he rebounded in 2009 proving his critics wrong by winning a career grand slam and earning his first Roland Garros title, winning Wimbledon, and taking back the No. 1 ranking. (You can argue though that Rafa was not healthy for 2009)
  3. If Pete and Andre can win Grand Slam titles when they were age 31 and 33, why can't Roger achieve the same?

All of these will be answered in a year or two, we just have to see how Roger will perform in 2011 and see if he can come back strong again as he did in 2009.  If indeed AO 2010 will be Roger's last, I'm just happy to be there in Melbourne, to witness the greatest tennis player in the history to win his last Grand Slam title.

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