So with World #2 Roger Federer out of the way, World #1 Rafael Nadal confirmed his status as the Best Player in the World in defeating World #3 Novak Djokovic to win the 2010 US Open. (Click here for outstanding video and Greg Garber piece on ESPN’s site.)
How did Nadal do it? With a 66% first-serve percentage, crazy accurate crosscourt backhand winners that “didn’t seem geometrically possible” (Garber), and overall, riding a sense of destiny that was clearly too much for opponents to handle. At 24, Nadal has put it all together – and in the last 3 months has won Grand Slams on clay (French Open), grass (Wimbledon), and now hard court.
How’d he get here? No doubt like any other Best Player: great genes, practice, passion, practice, athleticism, practice, focus. And practice. Here’s a little video montage of very young Rafa to not-that-long-ago Rafa. Turn down the sound after you click play to spare yourself having to listen to the unforgivably lame musical soundtrack – but check out Nadal’s incredible quickness and ability to change direction even as a teenager.
To this day, Nadal sounds completely committed to constantly improving his game – which cannot be good news for any other male tennis player on the ATP circuit.
If Caroline Wozniacki wins this year’s US Open, she’ll replace Serena Williams as the World No. 1 player – and she will cash in with the largest payday ever in women’s sports: $2.7 million.
Caroline Wozniacki: courting greatness
Just 20 years old, Wozniacki rose to World #2 earlier this year. She seems poised for great things – although she’ll have to go a long way to reach the heights already attained by Serena, who was first ranked #1 eight years ago, and whose career earnings top $32m.
Search youtube under “tennis prodigy” and the second video in the queue is this one, of little Jan Silva.
The video mentions how Jan has been playing since he was a little over a year old, and how he’s “based” at a private tennis academy in France. Now, anyone familiar with the story of Andre Agassi‘s ambivalent relationship with his tennis education and those who provided it (or anyone who’s read David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, which can maybe be called the Best Tennis Novel Ever, since there really aren’t that many others laying claim to the title) will recoil just a bit at the word “academy” – which brings up a key question in grooming a “prodigy,” whether in tennis, soccer, golf, or whatever: how much do you push the young’un?
Key question notwithstanding, Little Jan looks to have the talent and the ambition. If he can keep this up for 15 years or so, he’ll be on the cusp of the big leagues and – who knows? – ready to take a crack at being the Best Player in the World. And since almost 150,000 people have already watched this video, his name will already be familiar.
