Remembering history: Tennis in 2008
The year 2008 has really been a crazy, dramatic and a long one for tennis. The fans of the game all over the world found it overwhelming and thrilling to say the least. The Australian Open, which was all fun and games, was undoubtedly the best tournament of the year in spite of all the thrills at Wimbledon. The nonstop and advertisement free coverage for the late night matches made a perfect environment for some breath taking story lines. The epic Hewitt/Baghdatis match kept the audiences awake till early morning for most people around the globe. Ranging from the fascinating come back by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Roger’s astonishing win over Djokovic and Sharapova, who ripped up the women’s side without losing a single made the tournament all the more sensational. Millions of fans all across the globe were spoiled through this tournament for the remaining part of the tennis season.
Monte Carlo Masters is one of the last great upper-crust vestiges of a proletariat sport. The fresh legged clay courts with a splendid contrast of blue sea and red clay made it even more exhilarating. Watching it was more like a ride on a pleasing Euro vacation.
Wimbledon is always a great tournament to watch. Although it was not the very best of tournaments for Federer fans but it turned out well. Venus Williams defeated her sister in the final match while Rafa defeated Roger in one of the best tennis matches of all times.
The final three sets of the men’s final game alone made the tournament even more memorable.
The most prominent part of the U.S. Open was Roger Federer’s win and that’s all the fans care about.
The match between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer at Wimbledon and Roland Garros was a hurting one for Federer’s fans with Nadal tearing him up into shreds. Both the matches between Williams versus Williams at the U.S. Open as well as at Wimbledon proved to be nail biters. One of the most startling shows of power in the last few years was seen between Tsonga against Nadal in the semi-final of the Australian Open. The crowd saw the very first steps of a champion in the making who was reaching the cusps of greatness in this match.
The quarterfinal match between Gasquet and Murray at Wimbledon is rated as the third best match of the 2008 season. British hero Andy Murray made an impressive come from behind to win the match in the end. The crowds just knew that this guy is going to win someday and he came up to their expectations. In the 16th round of the French Open, one of most mentally tough women on the tour, Maria Sharapova, was out gritted by Dinara. In this match, Dinara made a comeback from multiple points down. The crowds still remember Maria’s facial expression after she lost the third set. Dinara repeated her act in the next round of the tournament. Her win over Justin Henin later shocked the world number one player who was amazed at the agility and power displayed by Dinara in an unexpected performance.
The quarter final match of Sharapova vs. Hennin was also a memorable. Serena Williams, in her match against Jelena Jankovis had to play really hard to earn victory in the match.
Justin Hennin retired from all forms of international tennis while she was still the number one player in the world of tennis. Her retirement came when Roland Garros was few weeks away which came as a sad news for Hennin fans around the globe. As far as Rafael’s achievements are concerned, with Monte Carlo, Hamburg and Canada, he won three masters singles title in 2008 along with a gold medal in the Beijing Olympics. The champion went on to win the 2008 Wimbledon title along with the Roland Garros for the fourth time in his career. He also won a spot in the final match of the Davis Cup for his homeland too. A lot of players made it to the top rankings of WTA towards the end of the year including Jelena Jankovic who seemed to be very fond of the number one position.
As the year 2010 is in progress, one wonders as to who will end up as the champion tennis player in 2011. Will it be Federer or Nadal for the men’s number one spot? On the contrary, will it be the Williams sisters who would finally achieve the number one spot in their careers? As the French Open enters the fourth round, hopes are high that tennis will win in the hearts and minds of the people.
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