MATCH FOR THE AGES
Sunday morning I got up and did my regular routine, ESPN The Reporters with Canadian John Saunders who is right in his element as host of that panel discussion. Another solid line-up with author of one of my favorite books of all time; FAB FIVE - from the Detroit Free Press, Mitch Albom, Times writer Mike Lupica and Boston Globe’s Bob Ryan. I then followed it up with the Canadian knock off and hit or miss version The Sports Reporters hosted by Dave Hodge. When that was over i switched to the the ongoing tennis match on NBC.Little did I know then that I was going to, over the next 7 or so hours and a few rain showers be treated to one of, if not the greatest tennis match's of all time.
I am not a huge tennis fan and will usually only watch for a few minutes here or there during a finals but this was different...to a degree. Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my control I was unable to watch the match in its entirety from beginning to end. The fact that the running time was nearly 5 hours and there were two rain delays also played a significant factor. That was the beauty of this particular match between Worlds #1 and #2 Roger Federer and Rafel Nadal, I will get to see it again no doubt as it will surely be played often on ESPN Classics or you can go to http://www.wimbledon.org/ and stream or download the match. Maybe not ESPN Classic Canada as there will no doubt be a CFL game from 1977. The rivalry, the shot making, the drama and the fact that it was at Wimbledon made it the most epic battles of all time.
A five set epic that Nadal wound up winning in near darkness ( 6-4, 6-4,6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (8-10),9-7)at the all England Club ending a run for Federer at Wimbledon. In typical form, both were humble in victory and in defeat.
Even if you are not a tennis fan you can’t help but be drawn in by this match.
The Wimbledon Men’s Final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal took a hefty Nielsen preliminary 4.6 household rating/12 share, some 44% higher than last year’s 3.2/9. It was the best-rated final in eight years, since a 5.0/14 for Pete Sampras-Patrick Rafter match.
2 comments:
I know nothing about this stuff but I wanted to comment.
Hi!
*waves*
Ex review, thank you. I did not see this match but heard it was good. Now I know, after reading it in this blog. Thorough reporting as always.
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