Federer finally conquers French

(Written Sunday)

I'm switching gears a bit for this entry. For those of you who don't know, I'm a huge tennis fan. It is my second favorite sports to play, and I follow all the Grand Slam events rigorously. This morning I watched history. Roger Federer completed a career Grand Slam, finally getting over the hump and winning his first French Open title. With 14 major championships, he sits alone with Pete Sampras for most Grand Slams won, and will have a great chance of breaking that record in a couple weeks at Wimbledon.

We are witnessing the greatest player to ever pick up a racket right now, and I feel like the general public doesn't even appreciate it. With the depth of the men's field, it is harder to dominate now than ever before. Federer has dominated for 6 or 7 years in a row now. Sure he's had his low points, especially with his inability to beat Rafael Nadal. But still, his record speaks for itself. He's been in 15 of the last 16 grand slam finals. Let that number sink in for a second. For those of you who claim Federer isn't even the best player of his era, much less history, they obviously don't have very good memories. It's true that Nadal has gotten the better of Federer more often than not, but he has not shown the consistency Federer has against the rest of the field. Also, the way Nadal plays, he probably won't be able to sustain this high level for many years. Just yesterday it was reported he might miss Wimbledon. I hope everyone who loves tennis appreciates what Roger Federer has done and continues to do on the tennis court.

One more random rant before I leave for the day. I will never understand why Federer's dominance of tennis is not recognized like Tiger Wood's dominance of golf. I can understand why Woods is more popular. He is an African American in a white dominated sport and unlike Federer is an American. The fact is, Federer is every bit as good at what he does as Tiger is. Also, I hate when people compare golf and tennis. Golf is not even a real sport in my eyes. Tiger Woods is the only reason people watch and has single handily put golf in the mainstream. Any sport that doesn't require running and that a guy like John Daly can play professionally cannot truly be considered a sport. It is probably the hardest GAME to play, but it is not a sport. In turn, besides maybe soccer, there is no more physically demanding sport than tennis. For anyone who has actually played series tennis they can attest to this. You are out there by yourself with no time limit and often in grueling conditions. You couple that with the mental aspect of the game, which is comparable to the mental aspect of golf, and it is one of the toughest sports to play. Personally, no sport has gotten me more frustrated than tennis. Normally I am very low key and relaxed, but tennis drives me nuts sometimes. The fact that 25 is considered old in tennis tells you something.

I will discuss the Magic-Lakers series in my next blog. Thanks for reading everyone and enjoy your week!