An ode to a GIANT

The legends, the giants, the greats-and their synonyms-have always fascinated the quintessential ordinary guy. I am no exception on this account. Some people say great people are born, some say they are made, some say it is just an illusion created by the mind out of deep respect or reverence to the acts the “great” person has committed. But by all means, greatness is something that is always looked up to, something that inspires people, something that stands as a symbol for the times.

The greatest thing about greatness is that it keeps producing greats. Time and again some person just rises up from the rubble left behind by a legend, steals the occasion and becomes a great by his own standards. The legend I refer here is no different. He is a guy who rose up to the spot no one thought would rise to and how fast did he do it!

Tennis is such a fickle sport. It can create and destroy players at the drop of the hat. One injury can destroy a range of things from consistency to the whole career. The individuality of the sport is what brands the sport and both affects and elates the sport to a great extent. Tennis is often characterized by eras. One era after another, one great after another, one beautiful moment after another. And what is so special about the legends of this sport is that they have lived a dream career amidst so many people who generally struggle to have a satisfactory professional career.

The titans of the game include an exhaustive list of greats like Fred Perry, Don Budge, Roy Emerson in the pre open era and Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras in the open era. Sampras was often considered the greatest in the earlier part of this decade and his numerous records were considered untouchable until one man stepped up his game and the standard of the game of tennis as a whole to an all new level. Roger Federer-the new king.

It is fascinating to note that the world of tennis has never allowed two emperors to rule simultaneously. The transition has always been made well. Borg didn’t come into the picture till Laver ruled. Lendl came after Borg left. Sampras came after Lendl. And Federer is no exception. Given that, the thing that makes him special is he has risen above all the above mentioned players- just like that.

I would say the strength of his game is simply the beauty of it. Elegancy in tennis reaches its pinnacle in his game. The way the forehand curves in from beyond the side lines, the arc of the backhand, the subtlety of the volley. His serve is the most underrated "vicious" serve in tennis circles right now. His attitude towards the sport is amazing-he sounds real humble in everything he does. (Sampras in his interview after Wimbledon 09 mentioned-“the guy is really humble”) – i e, he is not flamboyant in the absolute sense. His calm mentality on court is amazing. The best of the lot is, he is so emotional but appears on court as though nothing has happened at all.

Not many know of the difficulties faced by him in becoming what he is now. Faced with emotional inconsistencies, he used to lose more matches than win just because he got psyched up due to a bad shot. After winning the Wimbledon boys title in 98, it took him almost two years to reach his first ATP final at Marseilles in 2000, and one another year to win his first ATP title in 2001 at Milan. His not-to-be-big break came in the same year when he defeated the then reigning Wimbledon champion Sampras(many consider the famous match to be the “exchange of guards”, the passing of the baton). It took one more year to clinch his second ATP title at Hamburg.

In 2003, after all the training to achieve mental stability he won his first grand slam at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club. There was no stopping from there. He became the number one in the world soon after winning the Australian open in February the following year. And he was going one way-up.

The pinnacle of his achievements came in the year 2007. From the start of 2008, he was going one way-down. Mononucleosis implied a below par Australian open. The rise of a Spanish Armada meant he fizzed out at the French open. Rain saved him the blushes and motivated him to fight a great match only to lose a brutal five setter one month later at Wimbledon. A quarter final exit at the Olympics meant he lost his number one ranking. Save a victory at the US open and a doubles gold at the olympics, he had a traumatizing year by his "own" standards-he won just three titles through the course of the year.

The thing special about 2008 is that, it is considered to be his worst year after escalating to the top of the tennis groupings. And his worst year consisted of one grand slam victory, two slam finals and a semi final and a world ranking of no 2. Any other player would have taken it hands down. But it is just that Federer has rised the level of expectations, level of playing standards and the level of results so high that people actually considered this as “bad”.

2009-no promising start. No titles in January culminating at a five set-third consecutive slam final defeat to the Spanish bull. Then no titles till late May when he beat a weary bull to clinch the Madrid title. People hardly gave him a chance at the French open that followed soon after. He was more of the “fourth” favorite to win the title. It can be considered only as divine intervention-but all the guys who were put ahead of him in the favorite list were eliminated during the course of the tournament implying that he didn’t have to beat them to clinch the revered clay grand slam that had eluded him all the years. And he did so, comprehensively, winning the French final in straight sets having survived two very close five set matches in due course of the tournament.

It suddenly changed the equation all of a sudden as some of the doubters were finally proved wrong with the musketeers’ cup in his possession. Then came up the mammoth Wimbledon victory, in the absence of the Spanish matador, in one hell of a final, sculpting Mt. Roger at 15 slams high, one step higher than Mt. Sampras. And presently, after the dramatic 2009, after some of the record books he has re-written, he is now revered as the “best-ever”.

He still has a few imperfections to his credit-proving that he is after all -ONLY HUMAN. He has an adverse head to head record against his arch rival, he doesn’t have an Olympics singles gold and a few such others. But all legends have imperfections. It’s the imperfections which make them so affable. Perfection should always be strived to achieve, but once achieved a perfect object loses the charm of an imperfect object, and closer the imperfect object to perfection, the more is its charm. And right now Roger is the closest to "the most perfect tennis player".

I wrote this short phrase like thing after his Wimbledon victory this year..

“It takes a below average human to give up during tough times.

It takes an average human to harbor hope during tough times.

It takes an above average person to endure and fight during tough times.

It takes a great person to come out winning through tough times.

It takes Roger Federer to rise from the ashes.”


To Federer, to tennis, to sport.

Cheers,

Does God exist????

Statutory Warning:
If you want to convince yourselves of something-this post wont help.
If you dont wanna believe in what i am gonna say here-i cant help you and i dont justify my statements either..
I have tried my best not to invoke any religious principles-sorry if i disappoint you with this..

I guess this debate on the Existence of God has been going on ever since man learned to think for himself. And as with all arguments, all debates and all coins, there are two sides to it. But the majority of the world believes in a superior power(atleast thats very true in my parts of the world) and the strong minority believes in the will of man. I belong to the majority.

You might think, why this guy ever wanted to put a post on a topic which he has an answer to. The purpose of this post is not exactly the answer to the above question, but to look beyond and maybe try and "understand" God..

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Poll Results-1

Q:Who, in your opinion is the greatest tennis player ever?
Results:
Roger Federer-83%
Rafael Nadal-17%
Others(incl sampras borg and laver)-0%

First and foremost, i thank all of those who voted on this poll..

Second..i do agree with the popular opinion of federer being the greatest player ever..

I congratulate the people who voted for nadal...it shows your intense passion for his kind of game...really appreciate it...tennis needs such fan following....and maybe one day nadal can beat all of federer's records justifying your opinion...time will tell...

Sampras and Borg, despite all their wonderful achievements...not getting a single vote is understandable...but i couldnt understand why a player like laver..who is the only person in tennis history to claim two calendar slams and who despite not playing for six years managed to collect 12 slams as a pro, couldnt manage a single vote...maybe its the lack of awareness...but in many tennis circles he is undoubtedly still a strong competitor with federer for that title...

And i do encourage all my blog readers to vote on the polls as and when they are up...your patronage will be deeply appreciated :D

if this post sounded too "formal"...he he he...let it be formal...

cheers,