The Magician on Court Roger Federer

 

The Announcement was coming, probably it was  overdue.. With injuries and surgeries and with age , Roger Federer ( RF ) called it a day on his playing career. It had been an outstanding 20 years or so at the helm of Men s Tennis . At 41 ,he was competitive still but the demand of the tour are such , this decision was the right one.

My first match with which I started following him  was from  Wimbledon 2001 – it was a Fourth round match and I at that time was rooting for Pete Sampras who was the defending Champion and RF was unknown !  Pete was invincible on grass and coming in to this match  at Wimbledon he had won 56 out of the 57 matches that he had played  on grass. But then, the  hair in neat  Pony tail RF  for whom it was the first match on Center Court, upset all expectations and sent the defending Champion out of the tournament in a classic five setter .. He made everyone sit up and  take notice and watch and that  included me .. twenty years on  he was a 20 time Grand Slam Champion and had won the Wimbledon  eight times , more than what Pete Sampras had. This match against Pete  was the turning point in Young RF’s career and he never looked back. Records fell galore as he swept Grand Slams and ATP titles and so on .. His first grand slam though came in 2003 at Wimbledon, He  reached 31 finals of  Grand Slam tournaments and lost eleven in his career. The most bitter must have been the Wimbledon 2019 final that he lost to Djokovic.

What made RF different ?

RF was a supreme athlete- He walked the earth light – He was a master tactician  and he ran his symphony on the tennis court. His serve was very strong and as any match progressed his backhands and forehands will start playing rhythms that the opponent will fail to discover. He will send winners out on all sides of the court , catching his opponents off guard , passing behind them , catching the tape and he will dominate the match. He was very focused , no side tracks or controversies, fluent communication , overall a well-rounded champion. All that said about his strength  , he had several opponents  who gave a run for his game in every match. It has been an incredible decade of rivalry with Nadal and Djokovic who stayed with him through this journey..

If there was one thing that RF could not do well, it was his Challenge / reviews of  line judges calls  ! 

Was Federer s competition just Nadal and Djokovic ?  Not really --  Marat Safin , Agassi , Andy Roddick , Robin Soderling  were his tormentors  in his early days ,till Nadal and Djokovic took it over. Although  Federer won the Aus open in 2004 defeating Safin , Safin had his revenge the following year beating RF in the semis, largely helped by Peter Lundgren who was RF ‘s former coach .. Then for a long period of time it was either Nadal or Djokovic. The 2007 Wimbledon final between RF and Nadal probably is one of the best fought grass court matches in the history of Wimbledon , with RF winning in five sets. 

On Clay , RF tried his best but he struggled on the slow clay courts – However he did add that Grand Slam in to his medals winning in 2009 .. Nadal losing  in Round 4 to Soderling helped RF s case…  Clay was his least favorite surface… 

The most disappointing loss probably was the final of Wimbledon 2019 final against Djokovic… Federer was serving for the match 40-15 in the fifth set and I was ready to celebrate – Inexplicably , Federer was broken and then lost in the tie break in a longish five setter . I thought he will call it quits after that loss. But he carried on and then the injuries started showing up and then in Wimbledon 2021 , he was kind of given tennis lesson by Hubert Hurkacz with an embarrassing  0-6 in the third set .. Federer to lose his serve and being blanked on grass was unthinkable. Federer did not return to competitive tennis post that match  and with more surgeries chasing him  the announcement to retire at the end of September 2022 came through

What a amazing career has it been for this man—Simply astonishing ….

He will remain a great legend in Tennis history and fans will miss his symphony on court!