Spain vs. Serbia

My love for tennis is a quite recent occurrence. It was not until I started high school here at Rocklin that I took notice to the sport. Once I understood the rules of tennis and was aware of the prominent players, I began to really enjoy watching the dedicated athletes compete for titles and rankings.

After two weeks of competition being constantly interrupted and delayed by rain, the last US Open match was finally played today. The Women's singles finals took place Sunday afternoon, but I was more interested in watching the men's singles final which took place today. Coming home to watch the match between Spain's Rafael Nadal and Serbia's Novak Djokovic was the only thing on my mind all day.

I was rooting for Novak Djokovic to win his third Grand Slam title of the year. The great and rapid improvement seen in his game was a leading factor for my favoritism but the fact that he is known for doing some very convincing imitations of other tennis players (his favorite imitation being of Maria Sharapova) is an additional entertaining thought. Djokovic also has a specific tennis grunt that makes me laugh. It reminds me very much of the "AAARG!" yell the Legend of Zelda character, Gandalf, is known to make in the Gamecube game of Super Smash Bros. Nadal seemed like a very formidable opponent but with the way Djokovic blew through the competition at the US Open, I felt that he would succeed in achieving the championship.

The match from start to finish was very exciting. Nadal seemed like the crowd favorite when he quickly won the first two games in the first set. Djokovic was able to swing the crowd to back him as he broke Nadal's service multiple times to gain the first two sets, putting him one set away from winning the championship. My mom and I would yelp in excitement when a point was made in favor of our favorite and mope in disappointment when Nadal gained points. Though I wanted Djokovic to win, I could not help rooting for the excellently executed strokes both players displayed. Nadal showed off his expertise volleying at the net while Djokovic showed off his drop shots. In the end, after 4 sets and a little over 4 hours later, the game was won by Djokovic, who kept his ranking of number one tennis player in the world.