I woke to my alarm at insane setting of 3:30 a.m. today, but it was well worth it.  The Nadal-Federer match in the Australian Open was resplendent tennis for the first four sets, with rallies of seemingly impossible angled groundstrokes.  Nadal’s strength and speed is machinelike, so strong that he forced even Federer to get tight, ultimately stumbling in the fifth set when he made some uncharacteristic errors.

Only two days after winning the longest match in Australian Open history (5 hours, 14 minutes) against Fernando Verdasco, Nadal won Sunday in 4 hours, 23 minutes by a final score of 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-2.   Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slams is safe at least for a few months.  But forget about that.  Could Nadal take the French, Wimbledon and U.S. Open to achieve what no one has done since Rod Laver in 1969, winning a true, caendar year Grand Slam? 

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