| 27 May 2009
I couldn’t tell you the first time I saw Michael Jordan hit a game winning shot.
Or share a story about falling in love with a Peyton Manning spiral or Albert Pujols opposite field home run.
I have no initial memories of Kobe Bryant, Alex Rodriguez or Tom Brady either.
My reality is reality, which is why I don’t have any starry eyed memories and love at first sight moments with any of my favorite athletes.
Well that is, except for one: Roger Federer.
I remember the first time I watched Federer- I mean really watched him- more clearly than I do any childhood activity, school event or family members parole hearing. It wasn’t just a tennis match, but one of the defining moments in my life as a sports fan.
You know those cheesy scenes in every chick flick, where the loser guy sees the girl for the first time, is taken a back, and instantly in love? The scene where the girl walks in slow motion, and there’s this strange glow around her, everything else frozen as she flips her hair, or opens that door. That’s the only way I can describe how I felt the first time I saw Federer. The scary thing is that it happened by accident, but completely altered my view on sports forever.It was a warm Thursday night during the fall of 2006. I went over my buddy Sam’s room, expecting to watch the season opening football game (you know how NBC always shows one game on a Thursday, that was the night), or some crunch time baseball.
But when I got to his room, there he was, lounging around, hand firmly on the remote, watching tennis. Tennis? Are you kidding me? Sam’s a man’s man, one who once played college baseball. So showing up at his place to watch tennis when football and baseball were on would be like going to a girls place to watch a movie, and her choosing Mission Impossible 3 over Legally Blonde.
I wasn’t even sure how to respond, sulking in the corner, like a kid not wanting to eat his vegetables. But within minutes I was smitten, ready to knock Sam unconscious with the remote if he dared change the channel.
On the evening, Federer played James Blake in a quarterfinal match, and although the score was 7-6, 6-0, 6-7, 6-4, it really wasn’t that close.
Federer was playing the game at simply a higher level than anyone I had ever seen. Better than Agassi, Sampras, Chang or Becker.
While Blake was sprinting around the court that night, putting every ounce of energy into every point, Federer simply seemed to glide from place to place, not even breaking a sweat in the process. Heck, I break a sweat walking from the couch to the bathroom on a commercial break, yet this guy is playing one of the most physically grueling sports out there, completely unfazed. It really was a spectacle to watch.
Whenever Federer needed it, he always hit a big winner, whether it was a stunningly efficient backhand that always seemed to toe the line, or a cross court winner that sent Blake sprawling. By the end of most points Blake was wheezing harder than a contestant on the Biggest Loser, while Roger stayed cool, simply getting ready for the next serve.
From that night on I was hooked. Federer usurped my interest in other sports to the point that I consider him- not LeBron, Jordan or Tiger- to be my favorite athlete, ever. To this day I still try to catch him in any match I can, whether it’s a Grand Slam final, or a snoozer from Dubai at 2:30 in the morning.
I’ve read every blog and mainstream article I can find on the guy. And as his rivalry with Rafael Nadal has heated up over the last few years, I rooted fervently against the Spainard, as if Nadal had kidnapped my dog and held it for ransom. Heck I’ve even gone ahead and applied for dual citizenship in Switzerland, Roger’s home country (Ok I might have made that last part up).
Regardless, the fandom that I have for Federer is unlike any I’ve ever had before. Sure I’ve rooted for teams, but when you root for teams, players and coaches change, but the seasons go on. You win some, and lose more, but at the end of the day, there’s always hope for next year.
But it’s different when you root for individuals. I’ve never met Roger Federer, and there’s a good chance I never will. But I still feel like I know him. I may not know what he had for his pre-match meal, or where his favorite vacation destination is, but I know his mannerisms and his emotions. When Roger thinks a call went against him, I can see it. When he’s playing at the world class level that only he can reach, I just know. At the same time, I can tell within a few points when he just doesn’t “have it,” on any given day.
Which is what makes Federer’s downfall over the past year and change so hard.
Different from every tennis player’s downfall in my lifetime, Federer’s is different. He isn’t like Agassi that dropped from No. 1 in the world to No. 122. Nor is it similar to Sampras, who one day simply ran out of gas.
No Federer’s fall is unique. He is still the No. 2 player in the world, and there’s no one even close. He’s been to the final of the last four majors and just won the U.S. Open six months ago.
But he’s not Roger anymore, the guy I saw back in 2006, the guy who helped me fall in love with tennis.
Gone are the hard court and grass victories that Federer sewed up simply by coming to the stadium. He’s Roger, the No. 2 player in the world, and after spending 237 consecutive weeks at No. 1, he may never get back.
In his place, is a loud, fist-pumping Majorcan, who’s stolen the show and broken my heart as a tennis fan. In his place has stepped Rafael Nadal.
The most telling moment in the Federer-Nadal weren’t any of the last four French Open’s, tournaments which Rafa beat Roger in each (Roger is a staggering 24-4 in the French since 2005, not too shabby until he runs into Nadal, who’s undefeated over the same span). It’s not even the classic five set Wimbledon final from 2008, a match Nadal won, and a match many tennis observers are still calling the greatest ever played.
No, the most telling moment came this January, on a hot evening in Australia, at a time when most Americans were fast asleep. Nadal beat Federer again in five sets, but this time it was different. Federer wasn’t his usual gracious self in defeat, but barely audible as he accepted the runner up trophy, fighting back tears the entire time.
The moment was beyond symbolic. This was the greatest competitor and most dominant athlete of my lifetime (and yes I include Jordan and Tiger Woods in that statement), wrecked emotionally, knowing mentally that Nadal had surpassed him as the world’s best player. It wasn’t about losing to Nadal in a Grand Slam final, it had happened four times before. It was about losing his dominance of the sport of tennis, with Nadal unquestionably the world’s best player.
Which brings us to today, and this year’s French Open. Just a year or so ago, Federer seemed to be a shoe-in to go down as the sport’s greatest player, tennis’s ultimate champion. But now stuck on 13 Grand Slam wins to Pete Sampras’ 14, there’s no guarantee that the world’s current No. 2 will ever become tennis’s No. 1.
Of course there is one way that Federer can still stake his claim as the greatest of all-time: he’s got to beat Nadal in Paris.
At that point he would have tied Sampras, and done something that Sampras had never done; won a French Open. Of equal importance, he absolutely must beat Nadal to win the title, Roger’s biggest nemesis, and a guy who is quickly cementing his own legacy one as the greatest clay court player of all-time. Within a few years we’ll likely be mentioning him in the same breath as Federer, Sampras and Rod Laver, as the greatest player of all-time.
So that’s it, it all comes down to the French Open. Federer just beat Nadal a week ago on clay in Madrid, so winning the French isn’t inconceivable.
At the same time, Roger will be 28 in the summer, the twilight of most tennis player’s careers. He’s not getting any younger, with Nadal just entering his peak as a player. He’s got to win this tournament and win it now.
In my eyes the 2009 French Open is the most important tennis tournament of Roger Federer’s career.
I know one guy who’ll be by his side the whole time.
Photo credit: http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/roger.federer.jpg
