Nadal only good on clay's? Wrong!

I watched Wimbledon (2008) final match between Nadal and Federer and agreed to what most people said about it. The match might be the best Wimbledon final ever! 

Before the match begun, a bunch a friends told me that Federer will secure his 6th Wimbledon titles as Nadal never won against Federer on grass and that's what statistic tells us. But people have to see other thing provided by the statistic too. Nadal has won 12 times over Federer since they first met in 2004, while Federer has only won 6 times over Nadal! Can you believe that? Besides topping Federer on clay's, Nadal also defeated Federer on hard court couple of times. Can you believe there is an athlete out there could be so dominant over Federer? I do. So, I took my chances and stood the opposite way of my friends. I'm on Nadal side that night ... and you already knew the result, he was on my side and proved that everybody was wrong ... he won over Federer in 5 sets!

I always love watching Nadal play tennis. On top of his great talent, he has the spirit of a gladiator. Although, I personally think Federer has a better tennis skill, he might be smarter too. But sport is not merely about skill and talent.  One thing, I noticed from sport ... you also have to be strong mentally, you must have guts. We've witnessed talented soccer players such as David Beckham, Ronaldo, John Terry, Anelka couldn't score a goal during a penalty shoot out ... what was the problem? They crack under pressure!  The same thing happened to Federer almost every time when he meet Nadal, he cracks under pressure. 

And the credits should goes to Nadal, especially if you noticed how hard he fought just to get one point. If you have to face the best service game player in the world, you will soon get frustrated because he would probably finish the set very soon by utilzing his serve, just like what it's showed during the final Wimbledon between Federer and Nadal. Nadal's serve is not as good as Federer, he is only ranked at 31 in aces, 30 in first serve won ... shortly, he's not known as the king of serve ... and serve plays critical role in modern tennis! So if Nadal has nothing, how could he won most of his matches against Federer?

Of course Nadal talent is greater than the average Indonesian players, including me. Nadal physical well being is also greater than the rest of us, including Federer. Nadal is 185 cm and 85 kg, while Federer has the same hight but 3 kg heavier than Nadal, Federer is 88kg. Do you notice that Nadal is more muscular and looks bigger than Federer? I also believe Nadal has better footwork than the rest of us. Just to get one point from Federer he has to run back and forth, side to side, jump and fall ... for minutes! People like us may find battling against Federer is frustating, he finds it challenging ... when Federer cracks, he is not. I suppose we will see Nadal as tennis world men's no. 1 very very soon.