21 & 22
It was a weekend of 21 and 22 in the exciting sports world for me.
My beloved Rafa earned his coveted 21st major title in professional tennis to break the three-way tie between he, Federer and Djokovic. I am a tennis lover…always have been and always will be. Rafael Nadal is my favorite male player, if you hadn’t picked that up over the years. He plays with passion and intent though he is a bit OCD with some of his tennis regimen but apparently it serves him well.
Federer runs a close second for me, it’s his finesse on the court that astounds. He makes winning look so effortless on the hard courts.
Yes, I awoke at 4:30 in the morning to watch Rafa play in the Australian Open final. This is the one major tournament that challenges me with its timing so I see less of its matches. And yes I was disappointed when he lost the second set tiebreaker after expending so much energy. I wasn’t concerned about the first set loss because he is the comeback king of tennis and the opening set just warms his fire burning engine.
About 5:45 a.m. I drifted off thinking his much younger and lankier competitor with a bigger stride might take this one even though I knew Rafa would not go out without a fight. I, like him, was just elated to see him back in the finals after a tough year of surgery for the 35 year old.
So imagine my surprise when I awoke at 9 a.m. to check the score to see the duo still battling it out tied at two sets in the fifth with Rafa in the lead.
I couldn’t have hopped out of bed any quicker to make it to the television set where I yelled vamonos duirng most of the closing set in true Rafa fashion. I proceeded to wake everyone from their morning lull as I was not at my own dwelling.
Of course my kids knew what was happening. I heard Robyn tell someone, “she’s watching Nadal.” Then Jacob ran in with,”Rafa must be winning?”
It was a great way to start the Sunday that was to set the stage for Super Bowl LVI. That brings me to 22 – the number of seasons now retiring quarterback Tom Brady played in the NFL before hanging up his helmet offically on Tuesday. I did some math.
Over his 22 seasons (which is half his age) after coming into the league as a sixth round draft pick at number 199, a third of that time he came home a champion on Super Bowl Sunday earning seven titles and five MVP trophies. That’s a darn great career which puts him near the top of the podium, if not the top, in the conversation for GOAT of quarterbacks, much relative to Nadal’s spot in tennis.
In my mind, they are both kings of the unbelievable comeback. Rafa proved that Sunday once again and there have been so many times I have seen Brady take the reins with mere seconds on the clock and his team down for him to find a rusher in the endzone for the win. I will miss that from Tom just as I do from Peyton but I have Mahomes for that now. On the bright side, I still have Rafa in action, for now.
Vamonos 21 & 22!