I hope nobody thinks I'm returning here to gloat, but I am a tad excited now, i must admit. Nadal's performance wasn't only one of the greatest we've seen in tennis, but his 13th title transcends tennis to become one of sports most monolithic, epic and surely unequalable achievements. His ability to beat the best of the rest so cleanly in semifinals and finals, his virtual impregnability in Paris, is comparable only with achievements outside of tennis, but there's nothing in tennis to compare with it.
I'm glad he tied Federer, and after only 60 slams, which is a haste in accumulation beaten only by Borg. Both of them are great champions, Borg was too, and Novak will surely eventually join Rafa and Roger on 20, and deserve to.
I felt no sympathy for Novak today because he dished it out on Rafa in Oz last year, and they'll bloody each others bibs again in the future. That's how it goes. You suffer miserably, or you celebrate with ferocity, and there's no in between. Nobody could have lived with Old Ralph today - not even Young Ralph, and that's the highest compliment I can pay him...
