I’ll Have What He’s Having
Posted by gauloises1 on January 10, 2010
Picking up right where he left off at the WTFs, Nikolay Davydenko defeated Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal back to back to take the trophy at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.
Nikolay Davydenko d. Rafael Nadal, 06 76(8) 64
I sky-plus’ed this one and am watching it back right now, and Nadal is entirely dominating in the first set. I must confess, I have no idea how Kolya is going to come back and win this one …
Would this be a bad moment to say I love Rafa’s outfit?
Reportedly, Rafa said he felt like he played his best tennis for five months in this tournament, and although he and his fans will obviously be crushed that he lost the final after leading so commandingly, he’s looked pretty sharp this week and should be in excellent shape for the Australian Open. Ongoing trophy drought notwithstanding.
There’s no denying that this is an enormously impressive result from Kolya, though. Quite apart from recovering after such a beatdown in the opening set and fighting off two match points before stealing the match from under the nose of one of the best closers in the game, he’s now improved to a 5-4 H2H over Nadal and won their last four hard court encounters (although he benefited from a retirement in the second of those meetings). He’s also become the second player after David Nalbandian to twice beat Roger and Rafa in the same tournament. Many of those who were vaguely condescending towards his WTF win as an end-of-season fluke will now have to seriously consider whether he is a strong contender for the Open. And he’s adorable.
Kolya kontemplates whether he might get a racquet endorsement now …
… and decides he doesn’t care.
I’m about one-thousandth as much in love with them as they seem to be with each other. It’s still a lot.
What is that Rafa’s got? Antelope? Ibex? Chimaera?
Kolya surveys his future, and finds it good.
Ha.
Bismarck said
ahhh. i was waiting for this.
now that my pillows are wetted with fresh tears i can finally find sleep.
gauloises1 said
Sleep well! I hope you obtain at least a few seconds of blissful unconsciousness without the torment of yesterday’s results …
linz said
Aaaw KOYLA BEAR!!!! This match was really, really fun to follow on twitter. I’m sure it would have been even more fun to watch, but seriously, just my twitter feed alone kept me highly entertained.
If Andy doesn’t win the AO (stop laughing..) then I would really like Koyla to win it. I just hope he can keep up this level of play in 3/5 sets. Gosh Australia is going to be fun!
irefusetotellyou said
I too turned in RIGHT after the first set, and I was completely bamboozledly nonplussed, to say the least. A BAGEL!?
… but evidently he just hadn’t eaten breakfast this morning (shut up, I tried) because he reaaallly rallied back the next 2 sets. As is evident by the scoreline.
Even at the end, I was still like — wait. Nadal had 2 (?) MPs? Yet Kolya still won this shit? Shiiiit.
(Indeed, I said “shit” a lot while watching this.)
Sorry all Rafarites, but he played really well.
AmyLu said
I took this loss rather hard yesterday…and I’m slowly getting over it today. As gutted as I am that Rafa lost, I am happy for Kolya. And, Kolya is definitely on my list of players that I’d like to see win the AO.
Cubbie/Carrie said
I took it pretty hard yesterday as well. All credit to Davy but I would so love to see Rafa win a title again….it has been so long.
But if he had to lose to anyone- Davy is on the least of “not as painful to lose to.”
robert said
“What is that Rafa’s got? Antelope? Ibex? Chimaera?”
This is a type of antelope called Arabian oryx, symbol of Quatar. Could be also seen on Quatar Airlines airplane tails.