The Moving Wall SLAMS it Again…
“… It ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!”. Remember those words? It’s from Rocky Balboa movie (2006), when Rocky told his son how winning is done. For 3 days, I saw the spirit of Rocky embodied in one man at Melbourne Park, Australia. A man from Malorca, Spain – Rafael Nadal.
When it comes to tennis, I always feel that Roger Federer is the best player ever. The Numero Uno, the number one, the greatest player the sport has ever seen. But, even at his best, this tennis great has time and time again found it difficult to beat Nadal and at Melbourne, Federer was left with tears as The Moving Wall (Nadal as described by Vijay Amritraj) proved to be difficult to crack again. It was amazing considering that Nadal was involved in another 5 hours classic battle against Fernando Verdasco two days earlier.
I don’t think Federer played badly against Nadal but as always Nadal makes the player at the other side of the court look miserable with amazing return of shots. He simply returns back everything that was thrown at him and forces his opponent to play one more shot until he makes the mistakes. In the end, the statistic showed high number of errors made by Federer as though he’s having a bad day. No wonder Vijay calls Nadal ‘The Moving Wall’. Playing against him is like hitting the ball to the wall, the ball keeps bouncing back at you no matter how good your shot is. Reminded me of Forrest Gump playing table-tennis too.
Fernando Verdasco, after his classic semis with Nadal said that to win a point from Nadal, you have to win it three times. That’s how difficult playing against the current World No. 1 is. Like Rocky, Nadal used his incredible strenght and courage to fight and fight till the very end. He doesn’t simply surrender cheap points to his opponent and his sheer determination is an inspiration to all young aspirants. He makes impossible shots possible and he keeps taking all the shots thrown at him and moved forward for the kill. That’s how winning is done! The Rocky style.
At the age of 22 and with six Grand Slam titles to his name already, Nadal is fast becoming a living legend. For several years, people have been talking about the possibility of Federer breaking Pete Sampras’ record of 14 grand slam wins. I bet it won’t be long before people will start talking the same thing about this young Spaniard. The question is only whether he can take all the punishments on court and keep moving forward.
Award:
I received an award from fellow blogger, Tie, two days ago. Thank you. I’m truly honoured and this will definitely help filling up my empty cabinets. I would like to share the award to my blogger friends as listed below:-
- Passionate About Blogging
1. Maza
2. Faisal Admar
3. E-Tomyam
4. Emylia
6. Tirana
7. Waliz
10. Kamal TSS
11. Jan
12. Icedlemontea
Yo bro.. I have collected the given award… Thanks a lot….heheheh
Really appreciate it..
Erk! Tennis, huhuhu…. I not used to play tennis… Besides I do not know how to figure out the score…huhuhuu…
hmm after look deep into your blog, I believe that you have strong feeling and enthusiastic in sport..hehehehe… good for you Ismail N..
erk! me myself love kembara jalanan jerk…hehehhe
Ismail N: Ha ha..baru thinking about drafting an invitation letter for you. Good lah since u have already collected the award. I love sport very much but when I was kid, I don’t know which one suits me the best. I ended playing all but never become very good at one particular sport. Talk about specialization, I don’t do that.
Kembara Jalanan pun suka bro. Involved in several kembara masa kat muor dulu.
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waaa….thanks a lot bro, nice award….hmm I’m thinking to create a special sidebar for awards collection….interesting
Ismail N: Special side bar? Dah byk award ke? Congrats.
But good idea bro. Boleh tiru ni. he he.
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Thanks for the award.. Boleh buat koleksi…hehehe
My 1st and 2nd son are playing tennis. Both of them are representing their school in tennis tournament. Roger Rederer is quite a handsome guy (but dont tell my hubby that I said this..jealous dia tu..hehehe).
Ismail N: You’re welcome. Tennis is a very good sport. But most demanding jugak. Kalau x cukup stamina…kaput lo. I encourage Malaysians to take up tennis or any racket sports coz’ physically we are not competative when it comes to contact sport like football, rugby, etc. Btw, RF memang hensem & ramai peminat… ha ha. I pun jealous kat dia.
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Thank you Ismail. I’m still at work and intended to look at this later, but I simply can’t wait. Hehehe. So here’s picking up my award myself as I know you’re a busy father and blogger.
I rooted for Federer in that classic match and was keeping my fingers crossed mightily, hoping that the previous 5 set match against the other Spanish guy would bite Rafa in the ass. Hehehe. Proved to be of no consequence.
Ismail N: You’re welcome my friend. Not so often that I give away an award, so I can understand your eagerness..ha ha
I tipped Federer to win but that Rafa boy was so amazing. Simply unbelievable.
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thank
Ismail N: You’re welcome bro
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Thanks a lot sdr Ismail N..Nadine sgt menghargainya..ade beberapa quote ttg persahabatan..;utk sama2 kita kongsikan..
“The bird a nest,
the spider a web,
man.. friendship.”
- William Blake
“… no man is useless
while he has a friend.”
- Robert Louis Stevenson
“A true friend stabs you in the front.”
- Oscar Wilde
(hehe,tetap tk rela kene tikam..)
*emm,ttg sport,nadine suke badminton,tp tgk org main tenis seronok jg..bile nak cuba ya..? ^_^
Ismail N: You’re welcome. Lovely quotes (ha ha ada sense of humour
) . Saya suka semua sport termasuk badminton. Tu lah masalahnya masa kecik dulu. Semua minat, tak tahu mana nak pilih. Last-last semuanya tak ke mana… 
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bro thanks!!!! hehehe 3rd award of the year… alhamdulillah
Ismail N: Someone stock is rising up this year.
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Thanks bro. Appreciate it
Ismail N: You’re welcome.
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Ooo….thanks Ismail kerana sudi terima award olok2 tu…hi hi…
Tie tak pernah main tennis, tapi main badminton tu biasa la… Cuma sekarang ni dah kurang menyengat sebab leceh nak pakai spek lagi…dah rabun pulak!
Ismail N: Of course terima. Rezeki jangan ditolak, Award jangan dilepas..
Jaguh badminton rupanya. Tapi dah kurang menyengat..jadi coach aje lah.. Ha ha.
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This is a great post…I’m sure both of this tennis player will love to read it. Who win anyway…OMG….
Cheers,
Julius
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Congrats to you & the other receivers of the award.
I hope you will keep on updating your blog.
By the way, I like your blog’s new layout.
Regards,
Harry Nizam
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LOVE your site, will visit again
Submitted this post to Google News Reader.
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I found your site on google, great site, keep it up. Will return in the future. Submitted this post to Google News Reader.
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Hello!
Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
PS: Sorry for my bad english, I’v just started to learn this language
See you!
Your, Raiul Baztepo
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Salam,
Ada juga main tennis, tapi tak berapa serius kerana bimbang rosak squash stroke. I use to play squash for state team. Kalau kat UKM biasa sparring dgn Prof. Dr. Hood Salleh. (Now if I’m mistaken dia dah dapat gelaran Datuk. Dah lama tak jumpa dia). Dr. Hood was one of the M’sian Champ in squash dan kalau main dgn dia, he’ll make sure that the opponent will run all over the 4 walls.
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