Roger's Biggest Milestone

9 years ago a 21 year old boy from Switzerland hits the pinnacle of tennis world by winning the Wimbledon championship 2003. Many said that he is poised for greatness, but what followed was beyond anybody’s imagination. 36 slams have been played after his first Slam victory and he has won 16  of them, a staggering number if we look at the depth of the men’s field in modern day tennis.

And he is back here, in yet another Wimbledon final, his 8^th a tennis record. And look what he is chasing. Record 7 title that will tie him to legendary Pete Sampras. ATP world no. 1 that again will tie him again to Pete’s record of 286 weeks as world no 1. The second one he will surpass easily because of tennis calendar.

There have been numerous records that he has shattered, as his semifinal rival Novak said before their match “He has almost every record a tennis player can dream of”. But yet somehow he is still there fighting with his young rivals, hungry for more that is an incredible virtue in itself. 

He was down and out in 2008-09 when he lost Roland Garros and Wimbledon to Nadal and then the Australian in 2009. The way he cried at the presentation at Rod Laver arena in 2009  everybody thought he is over, his days are over, but the king roared back, winning his first Roland garros and then a record 15^th at Wimbledon. But things got nastier, now he has not only Nadal but also Novak who together have won last 9 grand slams. The younger guns were looking beyond reach when 2011 ended. They were both far away in terms of tennis ranking points.

I won’t talk about more numbers here, we all know how big they are, thousands of articles you will find on how he has dominated the tennis world. They all mean so much in terms of tennis. They mean so much to me. The 7^th Wimbledon and a record 286 weeks, these are numbers I want him to get so badly.

I don’t know much about this but I guess there won’t be any tournament in history where all the top 3 stood a chance to move to number one. Federer has been rewarded for playing some excellent consistent tennis to be able to reach this stage this year. Of all the records he has broken, of all the milestones he has reached, claiming the top spot from his younger rivals, after being dumped to no 3, would have been the biggest milestone Federer has ever achieved, at least for me.

After Roland Garros 2012

Following sportsmen makes you think you are an expert in the sport. You neglect a lot of factors and all you care about is to see your favorite one winning.  I have been a huge fan of Roger Federer. Everything he does on a tennis court and off the court seems to be a part of my life as well. So just sharing a part of what goes in my mind when a big tournament (Roland Garros) ends in a disappointment and another big one (Wimbledon) is just around the corner.

It’s difficult to feel satisfied with a semifinal place in Grand Slam from Roger as we are used to see such brand of tennis which has made him sit at top of Grand Slams numbers. And with Rafa just winning the French also puts a worry in head that how can this guy be stopped on Clay. He may take 3-4 more here and will be sitting pretty at 13-14 Grand slams at neck with Federer 16 (if he doesn’t win more), and there are other which he has/can won. 

It’s not like I hate Nadal, I respect him as a tennis pro, but I never respected his game, with Federer’s grace and calm on one side it’s impossible to like Nadal’s or even Djokovic’s power hitting game. It feels like they are machines operating on a tennis court with human emotions. Kudos to their training programs and trainers that they can stand full year but I’m sure they won’t be around till there 30’s as Roger is and at a high on Men’s tour. They may be there but they will be overpowered as they will have less power in their shoulders. I don’t know if they will be able to change their game styles too much to defy their age. 

Coming to Roger’s game. Roland Garros was not a disaster in terms of where he reached eventually. Yes he lost ranking points as he was finalist last year, but as he mentioned a semifinal in a Grand slam is a big thing. Obviously he had to stay focused and optimistic ahead of Wimbledon so that is his way of thinking. What was worrying is the way he scrapped through last 4. The way he was taken to 4 sets in r2, 3, 4 was not convincing, and against the players hardly anybody knows. Yes they played well but Roger was off color. His serve has been a weapon whenever he has went to win big trophies, who can forget how he shut down Novak at the same stage last year with Ace down the T and get that finger up.

His serve was completely misfiring, the numbers don’t look horrible but I have not seen Federer serve so badly ever. Not when I have seen him play. On grass he will need his weapon dearly, don’t know what the reason was but he needs it back. The semifinal was a strange match, he was going for all the shots, credit to Novak I think, he forced so many errors. But the best shot of the tournament was hit by Federer at 1 set down 0-0, 30-40… That 37 shot rally was one of the best I see on clay. Players should know tweener is Roger’s property. Semifinal was lost in a hurry and nobody knew how quickly it happened. He was thrice up in set 2 and gave away the break. Impossible.. In quarterfinals it was great to see him coming back from 2 sets down and I say Del P was playing brilliantly and Roger responded like a Champ with help from his opponents’ knee. But in Semis the fire was gone. He looked like a man who wants to win but only in patches. His mighty forehand was wayward. And it ended as a very bad day for his fans.

Don’t know what happened to his serve, or forehand, is Djokovic entering in his head too or he is not just quite there up to level of top 2. These are difficult questions to answer and I think only he can answer these. Whatever happened at Paris is over. Wimbledon starts in 2 weeks, he plays in Halle this week and he has already opened his Street. Some smiles are already restored. He touched grass win few matches, hit some serve and volleys and we will cheer him with all we got. Don’t know how he will perform in Wimbledon, but wish he can also win 7 just like Rafa did in Paris. Whatever happens, whatever number Nadal/Djokovic end up with, Roger will always be our No.1.