Mind over matter ? Tis' the Rafa Effect!

Here goes Saucy Sardonix :
Is it possible to win the French open and Wimbledon in the same year?
Yes.
Even if you are not Bjorn Borg?
Well, being Rafael Nadal is good enough!!!

2008 has been a sensational year for Rafael Nadal. Not because he managed to win the French open and Wimbledon the same year, but because he has managed to sow the seeds of self doubt in the mind of a certain Mr. Roger Federer. In my amateur assessment, Wimbledon 2008 was lost by Federer because of the mind job that Rafa had pulled on him.

Anyone who saw the Wimbledon final knew that Federer was very much at the top of his game, his strokes were flowing, the aces working and the volleys dropping but Rafa had managed to break him early with some sensational ground strokes and reduced Roger Federer to 2 sets to love down after 90 minutes of play. Federer the great champion, so used to crushing opponents with his graceful accuracy, was lost in an unchartered sea. He has never been able to recover from 2 sets to love down except on 3 insignificant occasions. More importantly he has never seen those sort of situations on his favourite piece of grassland.
Yes, much to credit, Federer did manage to scramble back a set in the tie breaker of the 3rd set and save match points in the 4th set to win it again in the tie breaker. However there is no tie breaker in the 5th set of a grand slam men's event. With Roger Federer fast losing all the break points he managed to create with difficulty, the belief that the Nadal serve could be broken was fading faster than the evening London light. Eventually at quarter past 9 in the setting London sun, Nadal did what he believed he could and broke the defending champion in the 15
th game of the 5th set. After a grueling 283 mins of classic lawn set, bereft of only the vintage and hitherto dying art of serve and volley, Nadal served out the match.

Ecstasy, disbelief, fatigue and relief were given vent to in the common outflow of tears the gladiator shed before monkeying up the stands to collapse into the arms of his supporting team.
Gracious as ever in defeat Federer acknowledged that his victor was better while Rafa won the modesty competition as well by saying that one Wimbledon win doesn't make him better than Federer whom he still acknowledged as the best player around. The wounded Roger Federer said he would come back for the silver he had surrendered to Nadal, but this was the year when Rafa would do his customary biting of the trophy.

The magnitude of Rafael Nadal's achievement is that he won the French and the Wimbledon within 6 weeks beating the same opponent, Federer, and proving to the world that it's the player and not the surface that matters. The Wimbledon final between Federer and Nadal was seen as an unspoken grudge match. It was widely expected that Federer would win and prove to the world that it was the surface and not the player that defeated him. To beard the lion in its own den, to beat a Roger Federer in full flow on the centre court of Wimbledon in the finals is why Rafael Nadal's victory is spoken so highly of. As with the EURO 2008 championships the Swiss remained good hosts and the Spaniards walked home with the silverware!