Long live the Rivalry! All Hail Fed vs Nad

The score was 8-7 in the fourth set tie-breaker and Nadal was serving to take the Wimbledon gentlemen singles championship for the first time in his career. At this moment only one amazing moment came back to my mind. The 4th set in the 1980 marathon five setter between the great Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe. McEnroe took Borg to a tie-breaker and in a similar situation fought off Championship points that Borg had and forced a fifth set. I wondered if Federer was looking to do the same and take it to a fifth and final set against the unrelenting Nadal. And it did happen, with Federer playing some mind-blowing tennis to win the next three points and push the final into a fifth set.

What a comeback the spectators were witnessing. They had already earned their money's worth when they saw both the players play out-of-the-world tennis in the first three sets in which Federer showed his determination to come back from being two sets down (4-6 4-6) to take the third one in a tie-breaker 7-6(7-5). And now with every additional point being played, each person sitting in the stands of Centre-court at the All England Lawn Tennis Club was sure that they would witness one of the greatest comebacks in a Wimbledon final and also that they would probably witness the best ever Wimbledon final in the modern era. Federer, according to me, played the best tennis he has played in the year 2008.

He proved why he is the champion that he is by repeatedly saving break-points and closing the door for Nadal each time. How he did this is a different story altogether. He served those impeccable aces when he needed them most- the most significant being the four that he served in the third set tie-breaker itself- and also played some sensational ground strokes to keep Nadal in check. From the point when Federer forced a fifth set, there was only one thought running through my mind and that was - Is Federer going to win the match and set a new record of six straight Wimbledon titles to beat Borg's record of five and do it in an Epic battle like the 1980 finalhe won against McEnroe?? Well, the answer was a disappointing NO. I sat through the whole match which lasted nearly 4h 40' and when Nadal served out to take the final set 9-7 I realised that there was never going to be another better Wimbledon final for a long time.

Federer may have lost to Nadal after staging the greatest comeback, but according to me he has announced his return to form with a classic display of his skills. I believe he is better equipped to face the Hard court encounters that will soon resume as we build up to the last Grand Slam event of the year at Flushing Meadows in New York City. Nadal on the other hand has shown to the whole world that he is the one player who can keep improving with every single point that he plays and at a young age of just 23, he has a lot of tennis left in him. I believe he will remain the undefeated man on clay for the next three years at the least and will easily surpass the record that Borg holds at Roland Garros with six titles against his name.

I am soon heading for Syracuse University situated in Syracuse City, situated about five hours from NY City. I was planning to save up money to visit the Flushing Meadows next year to witness the great Roger Federer play in the final at the Arthur Ashe stadium at a minimum cost of 80$(thats a lot, but to see such tennis be played I consider it dirt cheap :) ). But having seen the quality of tennis that these two greats have brought out of each other I am thinking about reconsidering my decision and making a trip this year itself to the Championships to witness another staggering display of tennis. Will I get tickets after going there is a big question but if I do and provided that my parents agree, I will be the first person into the stadium on the day it will happen. For all you know maybe noe of them may not even make it to the finals with a player like Novak Djokovic around, but if either of these two players plays even half as well as they did against him then they will easily breeze past him. Such is the quality of these two greats.

I had earlier written about a great rivalry between these two players that has grown and grown over the last few years(The Great Rivalry that is... dated June 8th) and while I was writing that piece of text, I deliberately shied away from comparing this rivalry to the Borg-McEnroe and Sampras-Agassi ones. But now I am proud to say that this rivalry has reached the same standards, if not bettered them in terms of the sheer brilliance of the tennis, the emotion in the games, the extent to which each player pushes his own physique and also the magnificent tennis that each player is able to force out of the other.

Long live the rivalry and may these two entertain each and every soul that comes to watch them play(Well I want to be one of them... :):) And I am hoping to soon be one too!) and bestow upon them the best quality of tennis they can deliver.

QUOTA QUOTA QUOTA!!!

Am back after a brief hiatus. In my last blog I discussed how the absence of a state-wise quota would affect the student mix at the NITs. Today I would like to take up the issue of the most stupid move yet to be made by the ruling government's HRD ministry. The proposed introduction of SC/ST/OBC quota for lecturers and assistant professors in the best engineering institutes in our country aka the IITs can possibly have only one effect- The standard of teaching will come down. The great professors and excellent faculty at the IITs has been their treasure. It is a matter of pride to one and all that these brilliant brains have stayed back in India or have come back to their home country instead of staying abroad in the universities where they may have attained their PHDs from.

They command a lot of respect and are able to rake in the funding required to carry forward all the research work that is going on in the IITs today. These R&D efforts have worked wonders in small and big ways. They have incubated several small but fast growing organisations from their own laboratories and are the base foundation for the way our nation's people are slowly being recognized on the global R&D platform. The cheap, intelligently made handy products are well appreciated and several other countries have started requesting for more such customized products. All this has been possible because the professors and researchers have constantly been churning out ideas with their brilliant application skills.

These esteemed members of the faculty have even turned down plum offers from new private engineering institutes and have stayed back in IITs because they realise the quality and standard of these institutes and want to enhance it further. But this stupid move to bring in 27% OBC, 15% SC and 7.5% ST will only anger these members of the faculty. And how will the administration choose which ones to send out and which ones to keep?? It is a move that is purely political in nature and will only draw flak from even the students who hail from those communities. The students will know the professors under whom they want to pursue their courses and they would always prefer that the quality of the professors is good and not that they are from a particular caste or community.

What angers one and all is the fact that the recent moves made by the government are all only going to degrade the standard of the IITs on the world stage. At a time when these premier institutes are gaining a good stead across the globe such a move is bound to only delay the same. It will take much longer now for foreign students to choose these engineering colleges as their destination to do pursue their education in. What the ministry claims is that if it finds a dearth of asst. professors and lecturers after a year then they can remove this quota system and revert back to the situation that prevails now. The thing they dont realise is that once some of them leave from there, it will be a dent in their pride and they may choose not to come back to the IITs.

The current sentiments echoed by the IIT directors council is very correct and I believe it should be taken up seriously. There should not be any such quota system introduced among the faculty. Lets just wait and see how this issue pans out.