Nadal crushes Gonzalez and wins title at Rome for the third straight year.
Posted by tennisplanet on May 13, 2007
Nadal put aside any speculation that he was not 100 percent, by crushing Gonzalez 6-2, 6-2 to win for an unbelievable third straight title at Rome.
Consider some of these freaking facts.
The ‘freaking kidding me’ streak is at 77 .
He is 17-0 at Rome.
This was his 13th consecutive title on clay, which includes two Roland Garros.
This was his third Masters Series title of the season.
His match record for the season? 32-5 with 15-0 on clay.
This was his fourth title of the season, more than anyone on the tour.
No one has ever won three consecutive titles here. Not even Borg.
He is still freaking 20. That’s got to be scary if you just chose to be a professional tennis player.
When was his last loss on clay? Back in April 2005 B.C.
“I am very happy with my game the last two months,” Nadal said. “I think I am in the best moment in my career, playing better than ever, so very happy for that. I worked very hard the last year and, well, when you work hard it’s important someday feeling like this.”
”It’s easy to say I didn’t play good or I played bad or my serve didn’t work,” Gonzalez said. “I mean, maybe you have another reason, but the most important is your opponent. Sometimes he makes you play where you don’t want to play.
“I tried to attack him all the time, tried to play very close to the baseline to try to make my opportunity to go into the net, and I couldn’t do it.”
“He tries to play very high and deep. He’s very fit — he can play for hours out there”.
What does McEnroe has to say?
“This guy is unbelievable on this surface. He’s one of the best — he’s like the (Bjorn) Borg of this era.
“Borg was incredibly fit and fast and you didn’t win any free points against him. He just had this mental edge.
“In those days when guys used wood racquets, it wasn’t as if you could get the ball by him. Nadal has like a different style, but with the same sort of end result. I just can’t see that guy losing.”
Have you heard one word more often than any other, here? Yeah, it is freaking ‘fit’. That muscle and stamina is wearing people down. Maybe he has already set a new standard. Click here , if you are a clueless zombie, as to what that means.
Jenny said
Congratulations Nadal. He deserved this victory and his record. I don’t think he was feeling 100%, but came through emphatically, so ‘hats off’ to him.
The final was a bit of a damp squib and very one-sided, not nearly as exciting as the semi. Being a Gonzalez fan [after Federer], I was very disappointed with his performance today, the fire and shotmaking just wasn’t there, which was a shame.