KING FOR A GENERATION Kelly Slater Achieves Greatest Feat In Surfing History, Clinching ASP World Title #10 By Nick McGregor
On Saturday,
the hottest day yet of the Rip Curl Pro Search Somewhere In Puerto Rico, Kelly
Slater turned up his own trademark heat to do what once seemed completely
unthinkable — clinch his unprecedented 10th ASP world title, exhibiting a
competitive zeal and indomitable passion that far surpasses any other
competitor of any generation to date.
And Kelly
didn’t just cruise to the clinch, hoping Jordy Smith would lose or relying on
other scenarios to let his 10th title play out. Instead, after a Round Four
hassle-fest with fiery Brazilian Adriano de Souza, Kelly met Adriano again in
the quarterfinals and absolutely smoked him, collecting a 9.0 for a quick
barrel and a butter-smooth no-handed air-reverse and a 9.87 for two different
barrels on the same wave, all in the first two minutes of the heat. Adriano
hadn’t even looked at a wave yet, and the deal was already sealed.
Even more
surprising, Kelly didn’t get chaired up the beach, celebrate his monumental
moment, and then give up in a flurry of celebratory champagne sprays —
instead, he remained focused for his semifinal with an on-fire Taj Burrow,
going tit for tat with the dangerous Australian, eventually downing him on the
strength of two 8.17s.
How about
the final, after every single person present at the contest was well lubed up
and ready to party the night away in honor of KS10? Well, The Champ just went
out in the dying evening light, threw down another 8.77 for a lethal
tailslide-top-turn-frontside-air, followed it up with his first perfect 10 of
the contest, and left Bede Durbidge in combo-land praying — along with
every other competitor on the ASP World Tour — that Kelly would finally,
hopefully, maybe be done with competitive surfing.
Or maybe
not: “I have to think about that a little bit,” Slater said after being asked
what the future held for him. “After 10, I have to question what is there for
me. And if the idea of 11 becomes appealing, then I’ll get focused on that. If
not, then I’ll focus on the rest of my life.”
That’s a
scary hedge from the person many are calling the best athlete of all time. See
below for more of Kelly’s insights, and stay tuned throughout the week for
further content from the biggest moment in surfing history.
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