Monday, September 14, 2015

The Elusive 18th Grand Slam - Roger Federer

Tennis was a new realm of entertainment for me. I had never taken interest in any other game than Cricket. But the year of 2001 and especially, the Federer and Sampras game was the one to which intrigued me and have been following the game since.

Sampras and his achievement weren't new to me. If someone from a third would country, where Cricket dominates every other sport, in terms of popularity, knows Sampras then, it is evident enough to list it among his milestones. People were already calling Sampras as the greatest open era tennis player. But little did Sampras know, the boy he was playing against in the fourth round of Wimbledon 2001, will be the one taking over all his records and creating new for his own. Federer was a over night celebrity after the win, but, very few players have had the talent and determination to maintain the success rolling. Though, he lost the very next match to Tim Henman but not without making him earn every point. 

That was Federer's start and I know that he has finished but today, I'm writing to make myself realize that possibly, the 18th grand slam will be an elusive dream. Today, I saw Federer loosing 2015 US Open final to Novak Djokovic. Federer also recently lost to Novak in the finals of Wimbledon 2015. I saw that game too expecting a Federer win but it didn't came. Same were the expectations today, but, the result was the same. Though, considering it as a good change, Federer was playing a lot better than the Wimbledon final today. His timing and power on that trademarked backhand was exquisite. When Federer took the second set back after breaking Novak's serve, I was elated and had a strong feeling that today may be THE day. But, in next 90 mins, Novak took the game away, far away from Federer. There were bursts of brilliance from Federer in between, enough to make Novak sweat, but not enough to trouble him.

The results of the two grand slam finals between these two players reminded me of Federer's dominance over Agassi. Following is a statement by Federer for Agassi and how he needs to pick his game:

"On my day where I'm not playing perfect, I know I can beat him. He's not as good as he was when he was at the top of the ranking, otherwise he would be there. Fortunately, I'm there. I think he has to raise his game, not me"

Believe, this is something similar happening to Federer these days. Seems like it is karma.

Being a Federer fan, I wish to see him retire with a great win under his belt and will to be waiting for that currently elusive 18th grand slam.

Src - theguardian.com

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