Rafa loss shows changing of the guard is happening
THE decline of a great generation in tennis has long been forecast. How long could Federer, Nadal and Djokovic continue their dominance?
When would one of the youngsters sweep the old men aside as young men are wont to do? Well, there is evidence the process is under way.
Rafael Nadal, at 34 years old, was attempting to surpass Federer’s total of 20 grand slams and he may well achieve that goal on his beloved clay at Roland Garros, where there is no question he is the best of all time. The 6ft 4in Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas has watched Nadal collect silverware and idolised him from a young age.
Imagine being a ten-year-old boy with a love of tennis and seeing Rafa, all muscle, sweat and flashing racket glinting in the sunshine of another French triumph. Now imagine what it is to face that same man and think you can win on a grand-slam stage.
Tsitsipas lost the first two sets of their semi-final as his game plan fell away and the Spaniard found the mark, most notably on his backhand and with the accuracy of his serving. At two sets down, there is clarity. Everything falls away and you understand it is just you versus him.
Oddly, the simplicity of the situation can relax the mind and Tsitsipas did take on the air of a condemned but reconciled man. I don’t mean to bang on about age but it is undeniable the 22-year-old Tsitsipas had more energy than Nadal as the night went along.
Of course, you still have to beat Nadal and typically even though Rafa had not seen a break point in two-andthree-quarter hours, he had some with Tsitsipas serving at 6-5 in the fifth set.
At this point, Nadal was on fumes and was unable to summon the shots to take him into a tie-break.
The final blow was a single-handed backhand that whistled down the line.
So, a hard-fought win for Tsitsipas and a chance to win in Melbourne, the city in which his grandfather Sergei Salnokov won Olympic gold playing in the Soviet football team. Have we seen a changing of the guard? Let’s talk after Sunday’s final.
TOTTENHAM showed the two sides of their season as they eventually left Budapest with a strong threegoal advantage in their Europa League last-32 tie.
First-half goals from Heung-min Son, Gareth Bale and Lucas Moura had appeared to set Jose Mourinho’s men on their way to an easy victory against the Austrians.
But Spurs went backwards after the break and Moussa Sissoko’s foul allowed Michael Liendl to reduce the arrears from the penalty spot.
Christopher Wernitznig hit the crossbar but substitute Carlos Vinicius gave Spurs breathing space late on with goal No.4.
Mourinho started out-of-favour duo Bale and Dele Alli as well as Premier League regulars such as Son with one eye on Europa League success as the club’s best route back to the Champions League next term. Talisman Harry Kane, as expected, was not involved.
And for a while it was all going swimmingly for Kane-less Spurs. Son took the initiative with the opener on 13 minutes.
A nice move saw Matt Doherty play in Bale and the Wales star picked out Son, who headed into the far corner. Bale doubled Tottenham’s lead with a brilliant goal just before the half-hour.
Doherty again played in the Welshman and he cut back inside onto his left foot, leaving Jonathan Scherzer for dead before lashing a shot into the far corner.
Moura made it 3-0 with a sublime solo goal in the 34th minute and seemingly put the tie beyond Wolfsberger. The Brazilian breezed past three men and into the box before firing low into the corner to put Spurs in total command.
Liendl gave Wolfsberger hope early in the second half from the penalty spot after Sissoko fouled Wernitznig, who also hit the bar.
Vinicius poked in after Erik Lamela headed on Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s cross to make Spurs the clear favourites to progress next Wednesday.