Oh Nole. I’m excited to be back too.

Wonderful final, after a pretty poor, half hour set from Monf where he was thrashed 6-2. He finally started busting some ass in the second, with Nole leading 3-0, Monf managed to take it after a late break, 7-5.

The third set was a whirlwind, with Nole once again up a break at 4-1. Monfie hung in there still though, and after a weird 3 ace, two DF, one unreturnable serve game, he broke and it was a whole new ball game. Nole was just too focused, and too on his game at the end though, and took it pretty easily in the tiebreak without losing a point on his serve.

An absolutely huge win for him, beating Rafa in the semis, and considering he beat Fed in the final of Basel last weekend, he’s on a huge winning tear. He is most definitely the best player on the tour right now, and is looking like he’s hitting a mid-season stride with things wrapping up (or perhaps finding some of that brilliance that he had during the clay season). We’ll see how the WTF goes.

As for me, I miss tennis like a crack baby misses… tennis. First time I’ve been able to catch a full match in some time (or at least what feels like a long time). I’ll be doing my manly version of “Incoming WTF” starting tonight, wrapping up the years of the past 8 a player and a day at a time. And come next Monday, I’ll be done two of three essays and will be in great shape to catch a shitload of London. I can’t wait. Good to be back!