US Open Day 11: Substance Over Style

The ‘Return of the Nadalian’ (anti-matter) is one of my favorite pieces, more so because I wrote a response to its first part. The core essence of it can be described with an oxymoron, ‘Objectively Endearing’ The past couple of days have highlighted the same underlying tone in the men’s game twice—Substance over Style. Let’s look at it through the eyes of a Spaniard and a Serb. Rafael Nadal won Monfils through sheer force of will. He looked at winning the entire war, and not just the day’s battle. At all points he was sure of what he wanted to accomplish: he wanted to win the match. If that meant he with deadpanned stoicism must defend twenty odd ground stroke bullets from the raw athlete of a Frenchmen, so be it. At no point he lost sight of his objective. His objective was not to play to the gallery, but to win. His tunnel vision was not to please the Ashe evening crowd every minute with breathtaking split slide shots on the hardened...