Roger Federer, Wimbledon and the 18th Slam

Roger Federer won his seventh Wimbledon in 2012

There is a definite sense of inexpressible emotion in the lush green lawns and battling white robes of Wimbledon; a quaint so to say reclusive austerity, in its serenading green carpet to the regality of the game’s greatest emperors, across the eras. Its ageless history crawls inconspicuously into the change of modernity even while retaining its sense of tradition and that’s perhaps why it’s a romance that endures, as the triumph of virtue over vice. No surprises that the fighting monks are aptly referred to as gentlemen here.

Time and again, genius has waltzed upon this meadow, owning it like an accomplished artist upon a worthy stage. And as with all such relationships, it’s now became a pedestal, grand and immortal, yet only complete in the presence of its king!

In the past it was William Renshaw, and then came Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer in the modern era. But amongst all, if Sampras made it his worthy home, Federer arrived to make it his art. One could never tell in this tale of their triumph, if the sculptor was greater or his masterpiece.

Wimbledon shall remain the priceless library, the cherry atop in His staggering legend. This was the very place; where HRH Roger Federer announced the change of guard in tennis, stunning a champion in Sampras in 2001, where he picked his first grand slam in 2003, thus beginning his obsessive habit of genius and winning, where he showed his invincibility in beating Nadal in 2007, where he showed triumph in disaster losing to Nadal in the greatest all-time epic of ‘08, where he reiterated his immortality in beating Roddick in 2009 surpassing Sampras’ 14 Grand Slam wins.

And despite all that, there was still Sampras’ seven on these green lawns that left to be emulated. And that’s perhaps a definite reason why Federer’s success last summer on this holy ground, triumphing against all odds, at a ripe age, beating Djokovic and Murray to pick his record 17^th Grand Slam title and seventh here leading to his numero uno status in the world subsequently was even more special.

But then there’s the eighth to be lifted. Call it hope or obsession or paranoia or whatever fancy attribute you might want to label it as, but if he’s the king of grass as is Nadal the king of clay, the eighth should come, we professed!

Nadal was, the biggest if not the only, obstacle in way of the eighth we assumed, before the first serve was tossed. But now, after a ‘surprising week’ and a rather harsh one at that, the reality one might be tempted to state is that the only opposition to Him is Federer himself.

If history is any kind syrup that could help warm our aching souls, we have one very glaring incident from the past that screams to promise succor.

The last of Sampras’ obituaries were written on his surprising second round loss on these very courts in 2002 to a 145^th ranked fast court specialist named George Bastl. One of his opponents even said, he was a step and half slower. Most believed the end was but merely postponed as his run of form up to the final slam of the year was anything but dismal. Only to find themselves embarrassed in the final act of the king who conquered his then record 14^th crown for the last time that fall.

If the story has any moral, it is that champions are not those at the top, but those who always aim for it!

His legs are tiring, reflexes are a touch slower, serves – a tad less fearsome and bail-able, the once searing forehands lazily strolling past their boundaries, the graceful backhands denying the emperor his accurate killer punch, his reputation fading from the legend into merely extraordinary, his aura diminishing from deserving to desiring. Understandably then, there’s a hush as people say that Federer picking his 18^th now would be only a miracle.

But then, if He can’t give you miracles, who else can!

He seems determined, and his results in the past have demonstrated the enviable result of that desire. Perhaps this stinging loss was merely a cruel alarm awakening the emperor to the perils of the hunt involved. So, let’s hope He returns with vengeance for one last time if not more and recreate that Sampras’ 14, though one couldn’t quite measure the thrill of a Federer 18. Perhaps if the 18^th came, we’d start waiting for the 19^th?

To a naïve man, after all, what could be more logical than piling more?

And yet, once the last page of his sporting life has been penned, if the 17^th is all he’s delivered to us, let’s be grateful, that we’ve sat through 17 immortal moments of recognizing genius and a lifetime of art in sport. Arguably, indigestibly, even if this was to be his last, we still would be proud and glad to acknowledge that the legend began and ended at his Home. Wimbledon.

But wait, he’s coming back next year…