Pye, Pye, Ms. American Pye…
Admiralpye was my apple-head siamese cat given as a gift by a fellow animal-lover and friend. After a year and a half of curling up at my feet and playing hide and seek with my dog, Admiralpye mysteriously disappeared. Every single day since then, I've thought of scenarios and alterego characters using his name. Pye would have been eight years old today. (image from www.siamesekittens.com)
July 25, 2008...9:38 pm
Repost: The Death of Wanting
I am reposting my barely-intelligible, euphoric post from my old LJ because I strongly feel that this Wimbledon final was the match of my generation, and it has to be a part of this personal tennis blog. A solid piece of tennis history that I can lay claim to as something I am part of in some distant, but irrevocable way.
The following was originally posted July 8, 2008, 2:07am.
———-
I’ve only now just recovered from the wave of delight, shock and awe that is the Wimbledon final 2008.
It’s one thing to be a tennis fan and player wannabe who soaks up every single tennis coverage I can get, even if they’re replays; it’s quite another to be a tennis fan of a professional tennis player who saw his very first appearances in the pro tour in 2004-2005, witnessed his rise in the majors and, finally, be part of this, his five-hour struggle and victory that somehow I, and many other of his supporters — from the first time we saw him play — knew was inevitable.
People are already calling it the Match of a Generation
. And it was. The tennis match for MY generation, finally.
It was the first time that I couldn’t watch a tennis match without switching to Lifestyle Network because my nerves were so raw and shot from such high level of play and display of will and determination that only the human spirit is capable of.
After the championship point, with Rafa supine on the worn-down grass and his racket twirling away into the darkness somewhere, it didn’t seem real. It didn’t seem real that it could be this perfect and this bittersweet.
For the first time, a tennis match made me cry. I cried for Rafa and I cried for Roger. And after this match, I can definitely say I am a big fan of BOTH players, equally.
Even as I cheered for Rafa and I sent out my own energy to the universe to support him, my admiration for Roger has also grown exponentially. Here is proof why he has been the number one player in the world for so long. Here is his spirit and humanness that many people accuse him of lacking. Here is a great warrior who was half of the reason that made the match so great.
I will never know just how much it hurts to be broken like that. I will never know how Roger got the strength to hold himself with calm and dignity even through that. No matter what the outcome, I felt there were two winners, cliche as that sounds.
As for Rafa, the intensity of his moment in the sun was felt everywhere, I’m sure. I felt MY dreams have come true as well, and that there is justice and beauty in the universe still.
How one tennis match like this lifts the spirits and inspires people like me, I’m not sure everyone can understand.
But I hope that for everyone’s sake, they have something even remotely like this to keep in their hearts and change their lives forever.
Leave a Comment
Filed under tennis opinion/commentary/gushings
Tags: a, generation, match, of, rafael nadal, roger federer, wimbledon final 2008