Federer Wins 2010 YEC
.The men’s tennis YEC is a strange beast. Unlike every other individual tennis competition, it’s not single-elimination throughout. It’s smaller, at eight competitors, than any other significant tournament. It’s definitely not as important as any of the Slams.
On the other hand, it’s more exclusive than any other official tournament: only the top eight players compete. There’s no real chance of avoiding significant opposition in the form of streaking lower-ranked players who performed above their level in the last match—you have to go through the best in the world to win.
Which both Nadal and Federer put themselves in position to do. Federer beat Ferrer, Murray, Söderling, and Djokovic in straight sets; Nadal beat Roddick, Djokovic, Berdych, and Murray, only looking troubled against Murray. That set up the “dream final” between the top two players in the world.
Federer had won it four previous times, while Nadal never had. Historically, Federer has tended to end the season well, while Nadal hasn’t—last year Nadal failed to win a single match at the YEC, and generally he’s poor late in the season.
I missed the first two sets. Federer won the first 6–3, Nadal the second 6–3, and so it was very evenly balanced going into decider. It looked to me very much like a typical Federer–Nadal match, and I expected it to go to the wire. Instead, serving at 1–2, 40–15, Nadal couldn’t hold, Federer’s serving remained absolutely impeccable, and then Nadal again couldn’t hold, and it was suddenly over, Federer 6–3, 3–6, 6–1. Amazingly, Federer converted every single break point he had against Nadal, three of three—something he usually has a tremendous amount of difficulty with. This time he found the perfect blend of control and aggression. Not only that, but in the final set he made it look routine.
It’s Federer’s fifth YEC title, and his first since 2007. He’s now tied for most all-time with Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl. The win also brings the Federer–Nadal head-to-head to 8–14 (6–4 in Federer’s favor if you remove clay results). It’s a more meaningful win for Federer in the sense that he’s caught Sampras and Lendl; Nadal definitely wants the title, but probably feels that he has years left to win it. It’s unlikely to affect Nadal’s confidence about the Australian Open, whereas it probably makes Federer more confident about defending his title—and denying Nadal the non-calendar Grand Slam.