#australianopenmensfinal

[kleinetigger]

Feder v Cilic @australianopen 2018 Men’s Final. Go Roger!!! 👍😊❤️🇦🇺 #australianopen2018 #australianopenmensfinal #australianopenmensfinal2018 #transport #transportpublicbar #artscentremelbourne #artscentrespire

[murraymusings]

An Epic Match

It's 9:05 pm EST and I'm just now getting to posting for today because I am completely wiped out, ready to go to bed in the next hour, at most.

Woke up this morning at 3:30, just I did on Thursday and Friday mornings because I couldn't bear the idea of missing tennis from down under--at the Australian Open. On Thursday it was Nadal and Federer. On Friday, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic. And then after a merciful break yesterday, it was the final between Nadal and Djokovic. The match began at 7:30 pm in Melbourne, 14 hours ahead of where I lay, in bed each of those mornings, headphones plugged into the laptop resting on my knees. No cable where I'm residing these days so I resorted to googling the web for a streaming feed of all the matches and ended up getting the terrific coverage on Aussie TV all three mornings.

No need or desire for me to analyze the match. The folks who were actually there have already done that brilliantly. it took 5 sets and almost 6 hours before Djokovic finally prevailed. I'll just say that I consider myself very lucky to be living at a time when these two guys, and Federer too, are dominating the sport.

But what makes it so special is their exquisite skills on the court are exceeded only by the grace, consideration and mutual respect--for the game and each other--which each of them displays off the court.

And so while I was rooting hard for Rafa to win this morning, how could I be dismayed or sad when Djokovic pulled it out? He richly deserved the victory, as Nadal would have if things turned out differently.

And in many ways the best part of the match, great as it was, occurred afterwards, when the two heroic warriors tried to stand as a slew of sponsors and tournament organizers made a series of speeches that went in way too long. Nadal slumped against the net cord, Djokovic bent over, fighting cramps. Someone finally, mercifully, brought out a couple of chairs and the two guys sank into them as each replenished himself with a large bottle of water.

And then each shuffled to the microphone, received his trophy and paid tribute to the event, the fans, the great Rod Laver, for whom the tennis stadium is named, and finally to each other.

It was perfect. Not a missed note by either man. God, I thought, I love these guys--and Federer too--and wish all of them nothing but success, good fortune and, please, more matches like the one this morning.

But that's all I have for now. Going to bed.