Roger Federer won his 20th Grand Slam title. The Philadelphia Eagles won their first Super Bowl. Bring on the Olympics.
Nick Foles not only beat the Patriots, he overcame the Sports Illustrated cover jinx.
Speaking of media, it's nice to see that players, minutes after the game, still hold up actual newspapers proclaiming their victory, and not tablets with the online version.
The ideal tennis tournament, for me, would end with Roger Federer winning the men’s title and Agnieszka Radwanska winning the women’s. The recently completed Australian Open came close, as Federer won his 20th grand slam title and Caroline Wozniacki, a Dane whose parents are Polish, won her first. In accepting her trophy, Wozniacki said she never cries (her voice suggested she was on the verge), and ended by thanking her agent. “Perhaps now I’ll finally get that Elle cover,” she said. One day later Federer, for whom this should be old hat, broke down in tears. This is partly why, no matter how often he wins, people hate to see him lose.
Once again, Rafael Nadal’s career has been put on hold by injury. This latest setback occurred during his quarterfinal match at the Australian Open, a gimp right leg that forced him to retire before the finish against Marin Cilic and eliminated the chance of another meeting in the finals with his (older) rival, Roger Federer, who that evening, advanced to the semis.
The commentators all shook their heads in sympathy and chagrin, pointing out, as they always do, the physical intensity with which Nadal plays, and the inevitable wear and tear on the body. Nadal himself blamed the hard surfaces that players are made to perform on at tournaments like the Australian, and the U.S., Open. Though one commentary pointed out that Wawrinka’s and Murray’s injuries both occurred on the red clay of Roland Garros, Nadal’s nirvana.
What nobody ever mentions is Nadal’s physique. The most injured player in the game is also the only one who looks like a body builder, with meaty shoulders and Popeye arms (which he once again showcased through a collection of sleeveless shirts). Does this top-heavy form put extra stress on his legs (he’s been plagued by knee problems throughout his career), especially when he starts and stops with his trademark ferocity? Does the Spaniard’s beach body work against him on the court? It’s obvious from players like Hyeon Chung (Federer’s next opponent) that you don’t have to be a muscleman to hit with power. Perhaps it’s to Nadal’s own detriment that he looks ready to box kangaroos.
I grew up an Eagles fan, mainly because of Tommy McDonald, their electrifying, diminutive receiver. I was small for my age and am now the exact height McDonald was: 5’9’’. I also loved the green and white uniforms; the thing I coveted over every other, for one small stretch of my childhood, was a winged Eagles helmet. My father finally bought me one, if I recall correctly, at a Pep Boys store on Route 22. The first professional football game I saw live was an Eagles game at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, the stadium in which they won their last NFL championship. The Marlins have eclipsed the Phillies in my affections, but the Dolphins have not been able to supplant the Eagles. They are, more than the Phillies, the team that never quite makes it. Yet despite – or perhaps because of – this, its fans have a fierce, unbending, some might call it pathological loyalty to them. Even those who live a thousand miles away. I don't remember any spectators at Franklin Field flapping their arms above their heads, but when I saw them do it on Sunday, while joyously singing "Fly, Eagles, fly," it seemed like a venerable tradition.
For years, fans asked how Roger Federer could be the greatest of all time when he consistently lost to Rafael Nadal. Now Nadal will become the world’s Number 1 after falling repeatedly this year – Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami Open, Shanghai Masters – to Federer.