AND THE WINNER IS...

Other than film, there are only a few things that I truly love: family, friends, politics, baseball, and tennis. I've loved tennis all my life—played it since I could walk, including on my high school and college teams... worked as a ballboy for the world's top players at a major tournament as a kid... taught it at various sports camps and privately after that... and watched every major televised tennis match I could. Nothing, though, could have prepared me for what I saw today. Like most huge fans of of the sport, I was up bright and early this morning to watch the championship match of the sport's most hallowed Grand Slam tournament, Wimbledon, which pitted against each other the world's #1 and #2 players, Roger Federer (my favorite) and Rafael Nadal. The match began at 9am EST... and it only ended minutes ago, at about 4:30pm EST! While some of that epic length can be attributed to two brief rain delays, the majority of it is owed to the relentless, awe-inspiring efforts of two of the greatest players to ever step on a court, whose rivalry had already produced numerous instant-classics, and who have now given us the single greatest match in tennis history, with Nadal prevailing 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7. Don't take my word for it... none other than former world #1 John McEnroe just said the same thing on NBC, while hugging and thanking both players for the gift of what they just allowed us to see. If you're a tennis fan who caught today's match, you're very lucky. If you're a tennis fan who missed it, you're very unlucky. And if you're one of those closed-minded ninnies who are not a fan because you regard tennis as a girly-man, tier-two sport, I no longer feel any need to even argue with you... I'll put these two guys and their performance today up against anything you've got. The match re-airs on ESPN Classic at 7pm EST tomorrow evening, so see for yourself.