I've never been a big Rafael Nadal fan. His .."Can you see my guns" shirts have never impressed me and for some reason as a result I always thought that he was just another rich, cocky pro athlete. Sunday .. he proved me wrong. Nadal was as gracious and humble as a winner .... as Roger Federer was as a loser.

I started watching this latest "match of all times" tennis match early Sunday morning as I was preparing a salad for my church's potluck dinner after our mid-day service .... and to my surprise ... when I walked in the door hours later .... the match was still on. Wow! When I left my house .... Nadal was in total control ...and when I returned Federer was surging back. It was an epic match ... no doubt ... but the biggest difference between the Bjorn Borg vs John McEnroe matches of the 80's was that there was no rich, spoiled brat of a kid on the court (aka McEnroe) to ruin the great tennis.

It was ironic ...that McEnroe was one of the commentators Sunday .... (maybe now he's realizing how foolish he used to look) .... but probably not. I wish there would have been an American man in the final ....but alas .... Andy Roddick may be the best American .... but he seems to always wilt under the bright lights of a Major. My fear though is if there would have been an American man in the final .... we wouldn't have seen the graciousness displayed by the man from Switzerland and the other from Spain.

Too often American male athletes are all about ..."in your face" ....and or "gangsta" ink on their bodies ... rather than just being humble athletes who compete with all their heart.

Fortunately we Americans had the Williams sisters showing the world that at least our women can compete with tenacity and fire .... but also be gracious winners and losers. Venus won the title over little sister Serena ... while their mother and sisters ... torn by emotion ...I would assume ... looked on. Their father left for the U.S. after both had made the final. Their careers have been controversial at times .... but those two sisters .... were two wonderul role models for athletes everywhere as they graciously accepted the loss on one hand ... and the victory on the other. Afterwards Venus said she was thrilled with the victory but she knew she had to comfort Serena too ....because she said,"I'm a big sister .. and that's my most important job."

Thanks Wimbledon for a great weekend for tennis ..... and thanks Williams' family for helping restore at least a little pride in our American athletes.