I blog about tennis almost everyday and I can't believe I don't even have a single article about
Lukas Rosol! Where has this man been hiding? I am currently watching his game now (a replay haha - I did not finish watching his game last night because I thought he would really just fold after Nadal beat him in the first set tiebreak!) against
Rafael Nadal and I am amazed at Rosol's abilities - his aces and his powerful groundstrokes! He has really just come out of nowhere and
shell shocked Rafa. I rarely see an
alpha male player like Nadal get a dose of his own medicine. Also, it's very rare that balls just whiz through Nadal - in a normal game, he just gets everything back! But not in this match.
I guess aside from his latent abilities, what worked for Rosol was his ability to concentrate throughout the grueling five-setter and just go toe-to-toe with Rafa. Also, he was never afraid to take charge and dominate - which is not easy if you're playing Nadal - who, everyone knows, deliberately plays at his own pace - much to the chagrin of many of his foes. I did read somewhere that Nadal tried to make Rosol lose his concentration - which is par for course in a sporting match - but Rosol did not take the bait.
Well, it's always exciting to discover a gem in the rough - which I think Rosol is. It's only the second round and it's still a long way to go - but if he just continues to play this way, he could really go deeper into this tournament. Of course, he only has a day or two to deal with the euphoria and bottle everything in and go back to business. I would really love to see him play a few more matches because his game is well suited for grass.
