You Just Had To See It! Nadal-Verdasco
Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco ran themselves into the ground on the way to the longest match in history at the Australian Open. Five hours 14 minutes later a Verdasco double fault handed the victory to Nadal. Both players fell to the ground…
This was a match that had it all, booming serves, delicate shots, pounding winners, relentless chasing of the ball… The final score was 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 in favour of the number one seed against the 14th seed Verdasco.
After Verdasco helped Spain take the 2008 Davis Cup title against Argentina he has almost become superman on the tennis court. He reached the final at the Brisbane event and after that said he was feeling confident for the Australian Open. He sure backed that up at the Australian Open. Verdasco had knocked out the highly fancied Andy Murray and last years sensation, Jo-Wifried Tsonga.
In the match against Nadal, Verdasco has played a blinder and somehow lost. He was pounding winners against the best player in tennis. Overall Verdasco hit an amazing 95 winners. He had 76 unforced errors to go with the winners. Nadal on the other hand hit 52 winners to 25 unforced errors.
Before coming to Australia, Verdasco spent time with Gil Reyes. He is the trainer for Andre Agassi. The time spent with him has done wonders as Verdasco was able to play at such a high intensity for so long against one of the best hustlers in the game. Also a chat with his boyhood idol, Andre Agassi has given Verdasco a boost in confidence.
This match is one of the best I have ever seen. Perhaps the best ever semi-final. It will go down as the longest in the history of the Australian Open, surpassing the Boris Becker-Omar Camporese match which went for 5 hours 11 minutes at the 1991 Australian Open.
In the end the match was decided thanks to a few unforced errors in the closing game. Nadal had battled to a 5-4 lead when Verdasco was serving. He threw in a double-fault, just his third of the game. This gave Nadal a sniff. Nadal had then earnt a match point and unfortunately double-fault no. 4 was served.
Both players fell to the ground. It was the end of a classic match. Words cannot describe it as some of the shot making left the crowd breatheless. At one stage both players got a standing ovation such was the quallity of their play.
Verdasco has now sent a signal to the rest of the tennis world. His big task is to build on the form shown at the Open and continue to move up in the rankings. Nadal now has to rest and recover the best he can for yet another showdown with Roger Federer.
I can’t wait until the big one on Sunday night Australian time. Bring it on!!
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