Rafael Nadal

Last Sunday my workout was not my typical cardio workout.  I actually did a cardio workout for 45 minutes, compared to my usual 20 minutes or less aerobic workouts. 

You see, last Sunday Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer played in the Wimbleton Championship Match that took place for most of the day.  There were a few rain delays, but for the most part it was an extremely long match to watch (but well worth it). 

I started the day early in the morning watching this match around 8:30 a.m. and thought for sure Nadal was going to win everything after the 3rd set, but somehow Federer had the mental power to stay in the game and extend the match.

I left after lunch to go to Lifetime Fitness to do my workout and figured I would see the highlights on ESPN.  While I was doing the strength part of my workout, I couldn’t believe the match was still going on.  Federer was not only still in the match, but had a very good chance of winning it all.  At this point, I really didn’t know who was going to win.  So, I decided to start my cardio workout on the treadmill while watching the tennis match and figured it would end within 20 minutes by the time I finished my workout.

Didn’t happen.  Federer somehow stayed in the match and extended the match beyond belief.  It was incredible to watch for all tennis fans, but it caused me to seriously make my cardio workout much longer than usual.

After my 5 minute warm up, I did a very fast sprint (Incline 4.0 and Speed at 9.0) for 30 seconds and then adjusted the Speed down to 4.0 for a recovery period of 3 minutes.  I followed this cycle for 30 minutes and then finished with a 10 minute cool down. 

When I finished, I was really exhausted.  But the only reason why I exercised on the treadmill for 45 minutes total was to watch the Nadal/Federer Match.  I was hooked and couldn’t stop watching.  In my opinion (and I’m sure by many others), this had to of been the best tennis match in the last 25 years or so.  Very comparable to Jimmy Connors vs. John Mckenroe back in the late 70’s and early 80’s.  Wimbleton matches with Borg were pretty exciting too.

Nadal and Federer displayed the game of tennis at its highest level of competition, fitness and integrity.  Both of these athletes are in incredible shape and played the game with amazing technical skills, power, agility, and endurance.  Also, they played with exceptional emotional control and didn’t let the pressure of the game affect them.  In my opinion, Federer has got to be one of the most level headed athletes who knows how to use his mental skills to achieve success.  Brady from the New England Patriots is my next favorite athlete for mental skills.

As I was telling my good friend Sal at the YMCA today, Nadal and Federer represented the game of tennis well in this match by playing with great sportsmanship, style and class.  Not once did you see any kind of immature or vulgar behavior that are commonly displayed in other professional sports, such as basketball and football.  Yes, the NBA needs to take some serious lessons from tennis to change their image.

I hope you enjoyed the match as much as I did. 

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal