Why do we love sports? For the competition, of course. We love seeing two teams or players show us their athletic prowess, their ability to seemingly physics. We love it so much that we don't even think twice about the fact that our beloved athletes get paid millions of dollars to swing a bat, catch a ball or shoot some hoops.
Tennis is a unique sport (speaking strictly about singles) because on any given day, there's only two people on the playing field: you and your opponent. Golf is an individual sport too, but in a different way. In tennis, there's two people on the court. There's no teams, no fields to compete against (not directly). You either win or go home.
That's why Roger Federer by himself is bad for tennis. Tiger Woods is what golf needs because Tiger competes against every other golfer in the field. Roger Federer competes against one opponent at a time, and he may be the best ever at dismantling his opponents (see Andy Roddick). Tennis doesn't need Federer: it needs Federer and Nadal.
Nadal is the Yang to Federer's Ying. The bulky, high flying lefty presents the opposite side of the stoic and controlled Federer. Nadal is Phil Mickelson, but the only difference is, Nadal wins. And that really is key. Tiger has no rivals. Sure, people try to compete, but really speaking, there's not one guy you can consistently say provides a threat to Tiger. Nadal, on the other hand, has become Federer's equal. Tennis needs Nadal to come back in his superhuman form because Nadal can beat Federer and Federer knows it. Nadal owns six GS titles, while Federer owns 15. However, Nadal seems to have gotten the better of Federer: in the last year, he has beaten Federer in three of the four GS.
People continue to debate if Federer is the best ever. Many say that with the French Open, and the completion of a career GS, it's hard to argue otherwise. If Nadal wins the US Open, he'll have completed a career GS too. It's this daily flirting with greatness that captures us as fans. Tennis fans in America needed a compelling reason to follow the game because Sampras called it quits and Agassi wasn't winning anymore. Federer was nice, but he was too nice, too dominant. Along came Nadal and he became the King of Clay. Suddenly, the King of Grass and the King of Clay were meeting each other in finals very often, and King of Clay seemed capable of doing what no other tennis player could: beating Roger Federer.
Let's hope Nadal is ready to play at this superhuman level once more. Tennis needs it, and more importantly, we as fans need it.
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