U.S. Open Golf Championship, Rocco Mediate vs. Tiger Woods in an 18 hole playoff, June 16, 2008
I have to admit, as much as a sports fan I am, I'm not the kind of person who takes time out to watch Golf and Tennis (which will be discussed next). Sure, I watch the major events and I know the names of the top athletes in both sports, but I enjoy other sport more than Golf and Tennis. This match, in addition to the next match, kept me glued to the television all throughout the event. When it comes to Golf majors, there is usually one person who is an underdog and rarely ever wins. Rocco Mediate was that underdog. The 46 year old was always a consistent golfer, but back trouble would hinder him to be a superstar. He had hoped that the U.S. Open would be his coming out party and finally win a major event. Tiger Woods has been the best golfer over the past ten years. He is currently on pace to break almost every record in Golf history. During the event, people noticed that Tiger wasn't 100% healthy as he was wincing in pain. What we didn't know was the extent of the injury.
Over the four round event, Woods and Mediate stayed in the top 5 throughout and on the last day, vaulted into the top 2. Because they were tied, the two golfers needed to play an 18-hole playoff to determine a winner. After being three strokes behind on the tenth hole, Mediate roared back to be one stroke ahead by hole fifteen. Tiger was one stroke behind going into the last hole one stroke behind and needing to catch up to either extend or win. In an amazing display, he caught up that stroke and extended the match by another hole. That momentum put Woods over the top and won the U.S. Open. It was later revealed that Tiger was playing on a torn ACL and a double stress fracture in his left tibia. Now I haven't felt the pain of a bone fracture or a torn ligament (knock on wood), but I did partially tear my achilles tendon once and was in so much pain that I was screaming and cursing everytime I took a step, so what Tiger went through must've been painful.
Wimbledon, (2) Rafael Nadal vs. (1) Roger Federer, July 6, 2008
At Wimbledon, Roger Federer, the number one Tennis player in the world, was the king of Wimbledon. He won the last five Wimbledon events and was gunning for a record tying sixth. Rafael Nadal, the number two Tennis player in the world, always would finish behind Federer except for the Clay surface court events. This was a Grass surface court and Federer was unstoppable, until now.
In the five set match, Nadal won the first two sets. While rain would interupt action the rest of the way, Federer won the next two sets resulting in a fifth set. Needing to win six games and win by two games to win a set, they both were tied two games to two when rain came again. They both were tired and traded games all the way until the 16th game. In that, Nadal fought through a competitive opponent, rain delays, and the occurance of darkness to win his first Wimbledon title and achieving the rank of #1 Tennis player a few months later. Even without the rain delays, the game lasted 4 hours and 48 minutes. With the rain delays, the match lasted almost eight hours.
After Wimbledon, the roles were reversed. As I said, Nadal became the #1 Tennis player in the world and is now the unstoppable force in Tennis. Federer has been suffering minor injuries and is showing the decline of a veteran Tennis player. The torch was passed on that day in Men's Tennis.
Part 3 will be posted soon.
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