The finale couldn’t have been any better! It was only fitting that the last act of the 2010 professional tennis season saw the two best players in the world fight it out at a smashing venue! London’s stunning O2 Arena, with a spectacularly lit centre court, and a packed audience consisting of stalwarts like Mick Jagger, Diego Maradona and Thierry Henry provided the perfect setting for the duel everyone was waiting for – Rafael Nadal vs Roger Federer. The clash of the titans! Or, El Clasico, as Nadal’s countrymen would call it!

And the Swiss maestro it was who ran away with the title and the cash, and ended the season on a high. A season that has been quite a roller coaster for him. Federer started the year with the Australian Open title, but subsequently failed to even reach the final in the remaining Grand Slams! Not something we see very often. 2010 also saw Roger, the once invincible Fed-Ex, lose to an ageing Lleyton Hewitt for the first time in sixteen meetings, almost go down to little known Colombian Alejandro Falla at the All England Club, and actually lose to Latvian youngster Ernests Gulbis in Rome. And for the first time in nearly seven years, Federer found himself at number 3 in the world rankings!

Nadal, on the other hand, had a dream season coming into the year ending championships. By his own admission the season had been the most emotional of his career as he won 3 Slams and completed the career Grand Slam. The boy from Majorca had come a long way from being touted as a one court wonder even a few years back. And he had clinched the year end number one ranking even before the start of the Tour Finals.

Both players had managed to win all their matches en route to the final, and so the stage had been set for a thrilling epilogue. After the first set started with both players holding at love, it the Swiss master who looked more commanding of the two, winning the set with a single break of serve. Nadal, however, started the second set with a lot of aggression and managed to break Federer’s serve, and then served out the set to take the match to a decider. The final set, however, turned out to be a damp squib with Federer steamrolling the Spaniard to win the title.

What was very evident was the confidence with which Federer played, something that he had been lacking for most part of the year. The forehands were booming, and the oft-attacked backhand looked as solid as ever. In fact, it was the sharp-angled backhand crosscourt that worked wonders for him, and he caught Nadal stranded every single time he played the shot. Hiring Sampras’s old coach Paul Annacone was a wise move and it seems to have brought his game back on track. Not that much was wrong with his game earlier, but having a coach to concentrate on the finer nuances makes a big difference at this level.

Nadal, on the other hand, looked jaded and exhausted, probably still reeling from the after-effects of his marathon semi-final against Murray. The fiery aggression, which we so relate to with his game, was missing and the manner in which he surrendered the final set was quite unlike the Rafa we know. He shouldn’t be too hard on himself though, he has had a fabuluous season and can afford a long vacation. That will charge him up both physically and emotionally for the next year. And with Federer almost back to his best, Djokovic and Murray playing solid tennis, and the formidable Del Potro returning from injury, the season up ahead promises to be an absolute slugfest!

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