Wednesday, November 23, 2005

2005 Masters Champion the Third Alternate David Nalbandian

Yes, that is what makes Nalle's victory all the better that he was the third alternate for the Masters, yet he was good enough to win and deserved his triumph.

I remember seeing Nalle play in 2001 and got a tip off about him from a very good friend who saw him play in the Palermo final in which he lost that year to Mantilla, he said this guy could play and then I had this confirmed when I saw him at the Aus Open in 2002, and saw he had a very compact and good game and used his brains on court which was unusual compared to his contemporaries.

This breakthrough has been a while coming, but worth the wait, though there will always be the doubters saying that he only won because of all the players that withdrew like Safin, Nadal, Hewitt and Roddick. It's an irony that Roddick the man who took advantage of Nalle's lapse in concentration at the US Open 2003 for his biggest triumph, was the player that pulled out so Nalbandian could take his place in this field and could have his biggest victory.

As for the final itself it was an enjoyable match, and an excellent way to end the regular ATP season. For some reason I felt that Nalle could win the match. Federer had his huge finals streak going and someone had to break it eventually, plus Nalle was playing well and if it went the distance he would have the advantage, plus unlike Gaston Gaudio, Nalbandian isn't just happy to be on the same court as Federer.

After not getting discouraged after some ordinary calls and being 2 sets to love down, Nalle held it together and raised his level of play and got to Nalle a 4-0 lead , but he hung tough and didn't panic when Federer came back to 4 all and was serving for the match and David held his nerve for a deserved title.

These two players are the best all surface players at the moment and played an entertaining and enjoyable match. Federer will bounce back, but the question is whether Nalbandian be able to build on this and be able to win a Slam and be consistent enough throughout the year.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats on this blog, GWH! Great first entry! It was a great performance from Nalby and may he continue doing well next year! All the best with this blog!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on the blog GWH!

Another irony about Rodick's withdrawal is he couldn't take care of his business with Roger so he sent, so to speak, Nalby to do it for him.

Although I am sad Roger's records were halted, I am happy Nalby proved to himself, rather than others, what a great a player he is and can be. It proves hard work always pays.

As you said in your last paragraph, remains to be seen whether Nalby will be able to hold to that win and spark in the right direction thereof. I think he will.

Sigurd Sigurdsson said...

Thanks for the comments, just thought I would start with an easy post to get this going.

As for Federer, he is a champion and he will learn from his defeat and he took it well and all records have to come to an end at some point.

Mandoura, the difference between Nalle and Roddick is that Nalle knows how to beat Roger and can return his serve so much better than Roddick, so it puts him in a better position to break him, then again tennis is all about match-ups and Nalbandian likes to play Federer.

Anonymous said...

Well you did it, Nils! I'm so impressed that I think I might just sit down and work on some translations this holiday :-)

Great insights regarding that Nalby-Fed matchup!

Anonymous said...

So it's finally born...Couldn't be a better topic for the 1st entry.
What stampered the end of the 2005 season which might be the beginning of something in Nalle's career.

I don't worry about the ones who are gonna whin about the withdrawals. He was there, at the right moment, in the right conditions, and played the right way althrough the event. With some honesty, if they have had the opportunity to watch the final, they should at least recognize it. If not, well, their case will sadly remain desperate...

Congrats on this blog, good luck for it. And looking forward the what's coming up.