{"id":5794,"date":"2014-01-24T21:39:12","date_gmt":"2014-01-25T02:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/?p=5794"},"modified":"2015-09-20T01:56:54","modified_gmt":"2015-09-20T05:56:54","slug":"wabi-sabi-and-spider-bites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/blogs\/arienna-lee\/wabi-sabi-and-spider-bites\/","title":{"rendered":"Wabi-Sabi and Spider Bites"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Roger+Federer+2014+Australian+Open+Day+12+Wn7S9KclWuCl\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Australian Open 2014 Men\u2019s Semifinals<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Stanislas Wawrinka [8] def. Tomas Berdych [7] 6-3, 6-7(1), 7-6(3), 7-6(4)<\/span><\/div>\n
Rafael Nadal [1] def. Roger Federer [6] 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-3<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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The redback spider,\u00a0<\/span>Latrodectus hasselti,\u00a0<\/i>is a species of venomous spider indigenous to Australia. By way of dinner preparation, the redback uses her fangs to inject a neurotoxin into the vulnerable flesh of her prey, liquefying its insides before binding it thoroughly in silk and saut\u00e9ing it lightly under the hot Australian sun. Lucky for me, I was able to see a redback\u2014at delightfully close range\u2014 on my very first evening in Australia, right about dinnertime, in fact. There she was: sleek and elegant, with a bright red stripe running down her back, and lethal as hell. My Australian hosts took no small pleasure in explaining that recent research indicates the people who\u2019ve been killed by a redback bite actually died from the\u00a0pain,<\/i>\u00a0not the venom. But not to worry, they cheerfully reassured me, should I be bitten by a redback, I\u2019d simply be rushed to hospital, injected with an anti-venom serum, and then pumped full of morphine for a few days to prevent pain-induced organ failure. Easy.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Now, I won\u2019t go so far as to compare World No. 1 Rafael Nadal to the\u00a0Latrodectus hasselti,\u00a0<\/i>but I will go so far as to say that beating him at tennis isn\u2019t easy, and losing to him looks like it hurts. Both these points were amply demonstrated by Grigor Dimitrov in his 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-7(7), 2-6 quarterfinal loss to the Spaniard. The Bulgarian shed tears after the match. But, at 22 years-of-age, Dimitrov is still very much a player in-process. The 32-year-old Roger Federer, on the other hand, has been declared dead, buried, and resurrected at least a dozen times by now. He already is who he will be, at least on the tennis court. (But after he retires, Federer might want to consider a second career in necromancy.) Maybe this is why it can be so painful to watch the Swiss superstar lose, yet again, to Nadal. There is a sense that instead of getting closer to deciphering the trick to making Rafa\u2019s forehand disappear, Federer\u2019s chances are getting ever more remote.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This is not to say that Federer will never beat Nadal again. He probably will, possibly soon. But he will never discover the magic serum that allows him to avoid the pain of fending off a fusillade of Rafa forehands\u2014all exploding into his backhand corner like hollow-point bullets\u2014with only one hand on his tennis racquet. (And he will\u00a0<\/span>especially<\/i>\u00a0not discover the special serum if he persists on approaching into Nadal\u2019s lethal side.) Roger Federer will never gain anything like ownership over their head-to-head, which Nadal now leads 23-10.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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There is not much new to say about this latest encounter, which was a comprehensive and familiar-feeling victory for the Spaniard, though it was Nadal\u2019s first win in straight sets at a major since the French Open in 2008. As anticipated, Nadal arrived with almost none of the unsettled confusion he showed against Dimitrov two days earlier. From his serve, to his forehand, to his clenched jaw, Rafa looked muscular in his determination. Yes, he was blistered, but he was also callous. [Sorry, couldn\u2019t help it.] There are those of us who imagine it causes Rafael Nadal some degree of internal pain to pummel the great Roger Federer. But that doesn\u2019t stop him from doing it. And, really, those forehands are\u00a0so much fun to see.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Watching Federer, I wasn\u2019t quite sure what I felt. Wabi-sabi comes to mind, The Japanese aesthetic wherein impermanence, incompleteness, and imperfection are prized. The flaw highlights the beauty, and objects become more treasured as they become more worn. Besides, he\u2019ll always have those 17 Major titles, 300-odd weeks at No. 1, and et cetera, et cetera on which to rest his weary, single-handed laurels.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Watching the other Swiss semifinalist, the new Swiss No. 1, I knew exactly how I felt: \u201creally happy,\u201d just as Stanislas Wawrinka described himself. Considering this was the first Australian Open semifinal for either Wawrinka or the Czech seventh-seed Tomas Berdych, and that three of their four sets were decided by tiebreakers, the match was oddly flat. This might have had something to do with the fact that while Berdych and Wawrinka own no major titles, the players in the other semifinal have thirty between them. It might also have something to do with the fact that Wawrinka and Berdych took turns tightening up abysmally in the breakers. Stan went first, losing all but one point of the second set tiebreak. Then it was Berdych\u2019s turn, and he double-faulted left and right in the second set breaker, which could be seen as ironic, since his tremendous serve was the whole reason the set had reached a tiebreak in the first place.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But the real problems started for Berdych when he failed to remember, at the very end of the fourth set\u2014which turned out to be the end of the match\u2014 that it was meant to be Wawrinka\u2019s turn to screw up the tiebreak. So, after selfishly mishitting the same volley twice, Berdych went on to miss some more serves, make a few errors off the ground, and before we knew it\u2014but not before three-and-a-half hours had elapsed\u2014the match was over. Stanislas Wawrinka had done what no ATP player has done since Tomas Berdych did it at Wimbledon in 2010. He\u2019d earned himself a spot in a slam final while seeded outside the top four. In fact, Wawrinka became the first No. 8 seed to reach the Australian Open final since Brian Teacher did it 34 years ago, which was so long ago, even Roger Federer wasn\u2019t born.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I don\u2019t want to give the impression that this semifinal, which almost felt like an undercard show compared with the hype surrounding Fedal XXXIII, wasn\u2019t a quality match. It was, and one aggressively played; it just wasn\u2019t a great one. The contest had its moments: Wawrinka hit approximately twelve dozen exciting forehand winners, and exactly two even-more-exciting backhand winners down the line (or possibly three, stats is not my strong suit). Berdych did serve exceptionally, except for when it counted most. And, beginning in the second set, Wawrinka also developed an interesting, slightly frustrating habit of ceding the first 15 points of his service games to his opponent. So, his games were infused with a little extra tension, thus giving the crowd more reason cry out\u00a0<\/span>Stanimal!<\/i>\u00a0in loving, pleading tones.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But the real outpouring of emotion came directly after match point was won. The stadium went all warm and loudly fuzzy with joy. Wawrinka earned the affection of the Australian crowd last year, with his valiant five-set loss to the 2013 champion, Novak Djokovic. He doubled that affection by beating Djokovic in five in the quarterfinals this week. The Swiss also happens to be modest, open-hearted, and articulate in his interviews. In the on-court interview after Thursday\u2019s match, Jim Courier asked Wawrinka if Stan\u2019s young daughter understands what her father does for a living. Wawrinka replied she only understands that if he loses, she gets to see him sooner. Then he apologized to her, on camera, that he wouldn\u2019t be home for another couple days yet. He was brimming over with emotion, and I admit, when he said the bit about his daughter, I got a little teary, too.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Rafael Nadal defeated a series of one-handed backhands\u2014Philipp Kohlschreiber, Tommy Robredo, and Richard Gasquet\u2014to reach the most recent major final, the 2013 US Open. Now, in 2014, he\u2019s already defeated Dimitrov and Federer, and will get a shot at a third one-handed backhand and a second Australian Open title on Sunday. It\u2019s likely he\u2019ll win it. But, I hope, not too easily.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Australian Open 2014 Men\u2019s Semifinals Stanislas Wawrinka [8] def. Tomas Berdych [7] 6-3, 6-7(1), 7-6(3), 7-6(4) Rafael Nadal [1] def. Roger Federer [6] 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-3 \u00a0 The redback spider,\u00a0Latrodectus hasselti,\u00a0is a species of venomous spider indigenous to Australia. By way of dinner preparation, the redback uses her fangs to inject a neurotoxin into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":5795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[331],"tags":[781,426,78,123,360,136],"class_list":["post-5794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arienna-lee","tag-atp","tag-australian-open","tag-rafael-nadal","tag-roger-federer","tag-stan-wawrinka","tag-tomas-berdych"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennisfrontier.com\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}