NEW YORK—It was déjà vu all afternoon long in Ashe Stadium on Saturday. First we watched as Novak Djokovic pulled off a highly improbable repeat of his five-set semifinal win over Roger Federer from last year, right down to the match point saved with a bullet, all-or-nothing forehand into the corner. Then it was time for Rafael Nadal to pick up where he left off at Wimbledon two months ago, by sending Andy Murray spinning like a profane top along the baseline for four mostly lopsided sets. I would say that men’s tennis is getting old, except that this kind of drama and quality never gets old.
By the time Nadal and Murray walked onto the court in the very late afternoon, the audience had no energy left for them. Djokovic and Federer had used it all up over the previous four hours. You might expect a quiet Ashe Stadium to throw off a player who's walking in for a U.S. Open semifinal—to leave him a little deflated. But you wouldn’t expect it when the player’s name is Rafael Nadal, would you?
Watching Nadal and Murray go about their respective business, I thought that this match, and the contrast between the two, would make a good instructional video for any young player. It would be a lesson in many things—tactical conviction, body language, relentlessness, perseverance, as well as how to rip the cover off an inside out forehand on one shot, and slide around a nicely measured drop on the next. Murray can do the latter two things, but only Nadal is the master of all the others.
Most of all, any tennis player, young or old, could learn the value of ritual from this match. Nadal’s rituals can admittedly get annoying. He goes to the towel too often, takes too much time before big points, and insists on sweeping the baseline clean on clay even when his opponent is staring at him, ready to serve. Despite that, Nadal's purposeful use of every second between points—each of his steps is choreographed—helps keep his mind occupied, and away from the demons that continue to speak to Murray.
Nadal was in control virtually the whole way tonight. Only when Murray red-lined through the third set could he make any headway, and that wasn’t going to continue for long. Nadal’s forehand was supreme; he whipped it for head-snapping passing shots the same way he had in the last round, against Andy Roddick. But as much as anyone could learn from that performance, what Nadal revealed about himself and his competitive mindset in his press conference afterward might be even more valuable. Nadal the relentless player can teach you how to think and act on court; Nadal the thoughtful question answerer can teach you about how a champion does those things away from the court, and what keeps bringing him back.
Today’s presser was a long and contemplative one from Rafa, even if, on the surface, it was filled with his usual boilerplate. He called his opponent “one of the best players of the world.” He said he had a “big illusion to practice and try my best at every moment.” He revealed, stunningly, that he is “playing at a very good level.” And that this summer he “woke up every day with big motivation.”
It’s the last line that stuck with me. Nadal said that he had had some tough moments this summer, so reaching this final was an “emotional day for me.” He has said this type of thing many times in the past. When he’s struggled, he’s always used those struggles as motivation. More than that, though, he’s always taken the time, when things are going well, to remember when things weren’t going so well. At Indian Wells a few years ago, Nadal was asked which of his French Open titles meant the most to him. He paused for a second and finally answered “2006.” He went on to explain that that was the year he had been unable to play the Australian Open due to injury, and he’d wondered if he would ever get back to where he had been the summer before, when he’d won his first French Open. When he did find himself all the way back, with the Roland Garros trophy in his hand, it was a special moment for him.
What seemed important about this comment to me, though, was that Nadal had never let himself forget it—he used the down moment to deepen the emotion and meaning and memory of the up. It seems that he’s done it again with this run to the final, which comes on the heels of his bad losses over the summer. How many of us, watching Nadal stagger through a convincing loss to Mardy Fish in Cincy, expected him to be where he is now? Grab onto the bad moments, kids, and use them.
Emotion on the one hand, perspective on the other. Nadal said he was happy that, even after his “painful” losses to Djokovic this year, he had always been ready for the next tournament, that he had never let those losses lead to worse losses. He said—with a smile that made you believe him—that even if he isn’t ready to beat Djokovic on Monday, at least he’ll know what his goal for 2012 is.
But this exemplary tennis player and competitor was at his best, in his mix of emotion and perspective, when he was talking about something that had nothing to do with sports. Nadal mentioned 9/11 in his post-match remarks on court, and he was asked about it in the interview room. He said that he had been to the Trade Center four months before the attacks on a visit with his family, and that the image of the smoking towers was “fresh” for him then.
“That’s a hard day for all the people in New York tomorrow,” Nadal said, “all the people in America. But I think for all the people around the world, too, no? I am not an exception.”
At the end of the presser, Nadal was asked if he was going to do anything tomorrow to commemorate the day. This was hardly a fair question, and unless Nadal really had planned to have a moment of silence at 8:46 Sunday morning—which, of course, he hadn't—there was really no good way for him to answer it. But he found one, anyway.
“Tomorrow I’m going to be at the hotel,” Nadal said. “So, you know, I cannot do much. You can have silence in memory of them, but the pain is done. It’s difficult to accept, and the way to . . .” There Nadal stopped and repeated the only true thing that he could say: “You cannot do much. Just remember the moment and have the support for the families.”
Knowing that you’re part of the tragedy, regardless of your nationality, but also knowing the limits of how much you can relate to it or empathize with the victims. Emotion with perspective: You might say it’s the mark of a champion. You might also, if you wanted to go a little deeper, say that it’s the mark of a wise kid.