Printable View
brilliant match. Fed in spite of his back problem played unbelievable and scintillating shots. As always the backhand stunning. :D It all boiled down to fed's fitness or else it would have been a clear two setter for fed. pleasure to watch him in full flow. Murray prevailed in three sets.
:exactly: but couldnt bear to watch beyond a point...Quote:
Originally Posted by wrap07
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...4-3162,00.html
Roger Federer vows to return
November 16, 2008 12:00am
ROGER Federer yesterday put his aspiring young rivals and off-court detractors on notice ahead of January's Australian Open.
The star declared he was far from finished despite his worst Tennis Masters Cup result in six years.
Eclipsed 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 by Scot Andy Murray at Qi Zhong stadium, Federer failed to reach the season-ending championship's semi-finals for the first time since losing to Lleyton Hewitt in 2002.
Irked by suggestions he had under-performed this year, despite winning the US Open and Olympic doubles gold medal, finishing runner-up at Wimbledon and the French Open, and being an Australian Open semi-finalist, Federer is relieved his season is over.
And, with the emergence of Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Ernests Gulbis as grand slam contenders behind Federer, Novak Djokovic and world No. 1 Rafael Nadal, Federer yesterday applied the blowtorch to the sport's fresh-faced contenders.
"They're doing well, it's exciting for tennis at the moment," he said. "I'm excited to see how they'll handle next year under the pressure, because they've had a good year now. It will be interesting to see if they can back it up."
Weakened by the viral infection mononucleosis at the Australian Open in Melbourne in January, Federer was stripped of the Australian and Wimbledon crowns, the No. 1 ranking and his cloak of invincibility as the year wore on.
And he finished the year with 14 losses, the most since his breakthrough 2003 campaign, with some of those defeats coming against pluggers such as Radek Stepanek and Mardy Fish.
Troubled by back soreness, Federer will take a short break before preparing for the Kooyong Classic in January.
"It's been a good year, you know. But tough to start off with. Tough to end," he said.
"So obviously a little bit of mixed feelings. But I think it gives me the opportunity to start over all new again next year."
Sachin for cricket and Federer for Tennis.
Check this
Federer against Safin in Aus Open (2007???) semi finals.
Quote:
Originally Posted by omega
http://cornedbeefhash.wordpress.com/...ns-the-french/
Why Roger Federer is the best player ever to swing a racquet, even if he never wins the French
As Wimbledon commences today, and Roger Federer walks out to defend his title, which if he does would make it five straight — equaling Bjorn Borg’s five in a row from ’76-’80 — there will still be some scattered chatter about Federer’s place in tennis history. With the French Open title still eluding him after this year’s loss to Rafael Nadal, his one and only nemesis, the pundits (it’s specifically the ones on the telly that I’m thinking of), in their infinite wisdom, will hesitate bestowing him the honor of “Greatest of All Time”; the talking heads currently believe that Australian Rod Laver currently holds this distinction.
Many would argue, myself included, that this year was Federer’s best opportunity to win at Roland Garros: he’d had two past experiences of playing (and losing to) Nadal on this big stage; he was in perfect health and relatively fresh; and he got a confidence boost by beating Nadal on clay for the first time, in the final of the ATP Masters event in Hamburg the week prior to the French. But all that wasn’t enough to overcome Nadal.
Even with this most recent loss, there’s no question that thus far Federer is the greatest, and here’s why: he is and has been dominant in a field of insane depth, on all surfaces except for one, one which is being dominated by the greatest player to ever play on that surface.
Allow me to elaborate. Currently, there are at least 1500 players who have an ATP ranking. In 1968, when the Open Era began and the professionals finally got to join the amateurs, the Wimbledon draw had 128 players, just like this year. However, the pool of tennis players to draw from at that time was infinitely smaller, and, while tennis even then was international, the countries represented in ‘68 were for the most part the usual suspects: the top 16 seeds at that year’s tournament were represented by six Aussies, four Americans, two Spaniards, a Dutchman, a Croatian, and a South African. This year, the top 16 seeds (mind you, now 32 players are seeded) include two Americans, two Spaniards, two Russians, a Swiss, a Serbian, a Chilean, a Czech, a Scot, a Cypriot, a French, a German, a Croatian, and an Aussie. Tennis’ global march has spread the talent far and wide, and you don’t have to be an expert in trickle-down Reaganomics to recognize that tennis depth runs from the community courts and the clubs to the junior tournaments and all the way up to the top. So I guess in this case it’s “trickle-up.”
This year’s Wimbledon qualies not only includes familiar names, but players with current and/or past grass street cred: Niclolas Mahut, who just lost in a tight final with Andy Roddick at Queen’s Club, made it through; as did Dick Norman (Belgian) and Wayne Arthurs (Aussie), both dangerous on grass; Arthurs made it to Wimby’s fourth round in ’99. Pick any given year in the last five, maybe ten years, and you’ll find this kind of depth on display on all surfaces. Not so in the 60’s or 70’s.
The name that always comes up when it comes to Federer and history is of course Rod Laver. Laver was dominant in his era, too, and carries the mantle of ‘greatest ever’ in the eyes of the media. He pulled off the Grand Slam in 1962 as an amateur, went professional (which meant he was prohibited from playing the Slams, which at the time were for amateurs only), was invited back to Wimbledon at the start of the Open Era in ’68, and then proceeded to win the Grand Slam again in ’69 as a pro. Who can touch a record like that? Federer never will. But as great a player as Laver was (you can get an idea of Laver’s style of play from this YouTube clip, there was no Guillermo Vilas, no Mats Wilander, no Ivan Lendl, let alone a Bjorn Borg or a Nadal, standing in his way. Rod Laver won 11 Grand Slam titles and two calendar Grand Slams, but I’ve never hear the pundits say much about his competition — have you?
Speaking of domination: can one imagine a more dominant clay court player than Rafael Nadal? And he’s been even more so at the French. Now, many won’t be surprised if Federer never wins the French, myself included. If you’re one of those types who like to ponder fantasy matches between the top players of today and those of the past, then go ahead, be my guest: Nadal against Vilas? Sure, put a wooden racquet in Rafa’s hands. Nadal vs. Borg? Ditto. How about Wilander, Lendl, Courier, Kuerten? You’re kidding, right? I’ll take those odds. The point then, is that player who’s keeping (and has kept) Roger Federer from holding all four Slams at once (and arguably holding them twice, a la Laver) is simply the best clay court player of all time. But please don’t call Nadal a clay court specialist: you’ll feel like a fool when he gets back into the Wimbledon final. Okay, maybe those aren’t the best odds. But I’ll take Federer as greatest player ever at 1:1. Now can we move on please?
Michael Shaw writes about tennis and other subjects for the Los Angeles Times, and is also an artist. He can be reached at michaelshaw_sar AT yahoo DOT com
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...3-3162,00.html
Fitness first for Roger Federer
Article from: Herald Sun
Leo Schlink
November 18, 2008 12:00am
THE facts are overwhelming. Roger Federer had his worst grand slam season since 2003, winning a solitary major.
The Swiss genius lost the world No. 1 ranking after a record 237-week residency.
The man celebrated as the best the sport has seen claimed just four titles in 2008, his leanest haul since 2002.
And Federer racked up almost as many losses (15) in a single year as he had in the previous three seasons combined (18).
Worse, some of those defeats came against players outside the top 20 -- notably American Mardy Fish, ranked 23rd, and Czech plugger Radek Stepanek (26).
Even Andy Roddick, usually a pushover rival, managed to get in on the act, registering only his second win in 17 starts against Federer.
And, after Novak Djokovic's 6-1 6-4 Masters Cup triumph against Nikolay Davydenko in Shanghai on Sunday night, Federer is only 10 points from slipping to No. 3.
The facts appear to say Federer is on the slide. And is possibly gone.
But the locker-room consensus disagrees with the broader view. Resoundingly so.
Andy Murray, who beat Federer three times this season, is among the Federer defenders.
"I don't see a whole lot of weaknesses with Roger," the Scot said.
"Federer is, I'm sure, going to want to get his No. 1 back and I'm sure he's going to try and regain his Wimbledon trophy."
Murray is more aware than most of Federer's 2008 season.
A season that began with an energy-sapping bout of glandular fever ended with serve-inhibiting back problems.
Tennis history is littered with champions struggling for fitness or health.
Federer's health between 2004-07 was rarely an issue.
The result? An era of virtual invincibility, capped by 315 wins, just 24 losses and 11 grand slam titles.
Questionable fitness is now intruding into a game still the best, but no longer clearly superior to the rest.
Federer's 2008 proved as much. His grand slam season was hardly shabby - semi-finalist at the Australian Open, runner-up at the French Open and Wimbledon, champion at the US Open.
But he was suddenly beatable. It started with a semi-final defeat to Djokovic in Melbourne and a sense of change at the top took hold.
Federer, for reasons then unknown, was not at his peak.
James Blake, Murray, Ivo Karlovic, Gilles Simon, Rafael Nadal (four times), Stepanek, Roddick and Fish all lowered his colours.
All the 2008 season has proved, according to Murray, is that no player, no matter how illustrious, can play hurt or sick.
Murray knew Federer was injured at the Masters Cup.
He flayed Federer's serve, realising the winner of 13 majors was unable to use his withering kicker because of his sore back.
Murray went for the jugular because he didn't want Federer to reappear in the final of the round-robin event, such is his respect for the Swiss.
Federer admitted later to compensating his power output to protect his body.
Consequently, his movement suffered and then so did the foundation stone of his game: the forehand. Yet he almost beat Murray.
The match was a cameo of the Federer season.
Attacking and in control, if patchily, at the start, Federer hit a flat spot mid-match before trying to bluff his way through.
And just when it seemed his heart, the most underrated part of his game, would pull him through the crisis, a younger, more powerful opponent came over the top with a knockout punch.
In the past four seasons, Federer would have ducked, grinned and survived.
Not this year.
Federer has 62 days before the January 19 start of the Australian Open to heal his body. If the remedial process works, he will start favourite and probably win a record-equalling 14th major.
But if his body continues to protest, he is in big trouble.
Tennis rarely allows its champions the luxury to bow out on their terms.
At 27, Federer has already outlined plans to play until the 2012 London Olympics. But the facts say he will struggle.
Whether he finishes as the greatest, statistically, depends on one thing: his health.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/can...AvK0ditsjkur4A
The Canadian Press
Wimbledon more important to Swiss star Roger Federer than No. 1
11 hours ago
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Swiss star Roger Federer says winning Wimbledon is more important to him than regaining his No 1 ranking.
"Wimbledon is something special. There is no substitute for it," Federer told reporters Monday, on the eve of an exhibition match in Kuala Lumpur, billed as the "Showdown of Champions."
Others playing Tuesday night are James Blake, ranked 10th, and two former Wimbledon champions, John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg. The quartet will play two singles matches and one doubles.
Federer is currently ranked No. 2 behind Spain's Rafael Nadal, after spending a record 237 consecutive weeks at the top. He lost to fourth-ranked Andy Murray in the Masters Cup in Shanghai on Friday, hampered by the sore back that had forced him out of the Paris Masters two weeks ago.
Federer began the year recovering from a bout of mononucleosis. He lost the French Open and Wimbledon finals to Nadal, who overtook him for the No. 1 ranking. But Federer won the Olympic doubles gold, then his fifth straight U.S. Open to pull within one of Pete Sampras' Grand Slam record.
"While I would also love to beat Pete Sampras's Grand Slam record of 14 titles, and also to regain my No. 1 ranking, I place winning another Wimbledon title above all else," said Federer.
McEnroe, who also attended the news conference, said he is excited to be playing in a match that will showcase "two generations of players in action."
"Players nowadays are so fast and hit the ball even more powerful than during my time," said McEnroe, also a former world No. 1, and winner of seven Grand Slam singles titles.
"I also believe that there are personalities in the men's game, much more than in the women's. We must capitalize on this as we can bring more fans to the game," said McEnroe.
http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=53341
Well, nobody's unbeatable. That's a fact. But, again, the fact is that he's one of the best - maybe even the best player - that this sport ever had. I have a lot of respect. I think all the players have a lot of respect for him. He's been so dominant in last four, five years, playing his best tennis when it matters, in the Grand Slams especially. It looks very easy when you look at him. He's an artist on the court.
But, you know, he reached a certain point, you know, when certain players start to win against him, and then you lose a little bit of the confidence within the loss. The other players start believing more that they can win, so I think it's a natural process. It's nothing strange that he's losing a little bit more than often.
But for him it's a big challenge to come back next year. It's still not over. Roger is the second player of the world, and he's intending of getting the top spot next year.
Djokovic on Roger
WARRIOR WITHIN
The Key To Roger Federer’s 2009 Campaign Will Be In Giving New Life To The Fighter In Him
Prajwal Hegde | TNN
Somebody won tennis’ season-ending Masters Cup.That probably happened when we were looking the other way, perhaps in the direction of Roger Federer as he was brought down early in the season’s finale in Shanghai last week. Who would wear one of the calendar’s biggest crowns was no longer the point of contention. The big question facing tennis today is where the peerless 27-year-old, with 13 Grand Slams titles, a record 237 weeks atop the world rankings, and almost $45 million in prize-money, will be next season?
Invincible is no longer the adjective used to describe the amiable Swiss. His name doesn’t invoke fear among rivals any more, its healthy respect these days. And it’s showing in the statistics. This was Federer’s worst Grand Slam season in five years, he won just one major. His total haul of titles was a mere four, his leanest streak since 2002. This year alone he has had almost as many losses (15) as he had in the last three seasons combined (17). In August his streak as the game’s top gun was snapped.
The slip may have been triggered by his physical condition. Federer was never at his best this season. At the start of the year, he was suffering from mononucleosis, later he was laid low by a bad back and in Shanghai he caught the stomach bug. While it’s hard to say if a fitter Federer could’ve staved off the challenge, there’s no denying that his rivals have been growing in stature.
Nadal, the man with the inflated muscles and cut off trousers, who wears his guts on his racket strings, was the first to nail a weakness in Federer’s enviable repertoire. He found a way to bore (pun intended) through the genius Swiss’ silken skills. He first did it on a surface most conducive to his tireless legs and relentless backcourt game and then carried the strategy over to Federer’s beloved
lawns at SW19 and took away the title the
Swiss valued more than any other.
The door had been opened, the champion considerably weakened. Novak Djokovic,
Federer’s Australian Open conqueror, made a charge, finishing the year just 10 points behind the Swiss. Then almost unannounced, Andy Murray, the thinking, teasing Scot, arrived, drawing from Nadal’s strategy he found a way to sneak the extra ball past Federer, finishing the season with three wins from four meetings with the master.
Federer, however, will look to turn it around next season. “When they (court announcers) say, ‘This is the world No. 2’, it just doesn’t sound right to me,” Federer had said in an interview. “I’m not world No. 2. I just don’t like the ring of it. It just sounds awkward to me because I’ve been up there for so, so long, it sounds unfamiliar.”
There are many theories floating on what Federer needs to do to reclaim the No. 1 ranking. The most popular being adding greater venom and variety to his attack. Multiple Grand Slam champion Stefan Edberg said, “Federer must have realised the need to be more offensive in his game. He has to play more serve and volley and get in more variation.”
The key to Federer’s 2009 campaign will be in striking a balance between offence and defence. When he started out he basically hung around the baseline, waiting for his chance. A mental battle in his late teens, in which he set the aggressor in him free, is what led to his breakthrough season in 2001. The range and rage of the artist-warrior combine was more than a handful for most opponents. He won his first Grand Slam title in 2003 and went from strength to strength. His domination was total and complete. He didn’t need to fight, he was winning at will.
The tide has turned and Federer will have to awaken the warrior within if wants to win more Grand Slams. Whether he’ll ever be number one again though is another matter. He’s only 27 and has another couple of years at least at the top, but week-in and week-out dominance may have passed him, just as his dream to win the French Open, the only major he hasn’t won.
No matter how close Nadal had come to beating Federer at Wimbledon in 2007, the Swiss never fully expected the Spaniard could pull it off on the courts he had made his own over the years. His 2008 loss at the All England Club shook Federer at the core. Clearly, he needed to do more. He needed to go to battle.
If anything that should serve as a warning for the coming season. Federer has almost two months before he kicks-off the next year. There’ll be time enough to recoup and reinvent. A blast from the past may well be the story of 2009.
REIGN OF TOUCH 2008: Federer’s four-year reign as No. 1 came to an end. Won four titles in eight finals, including his fifth straight US Open crown. Year-end ranking 2.
2007: Finished No. 1 for a fourth straight year. Won eight titles in 12 finals, including three Grand Slam crowns. Yearendranking 1
2006: Finished No. 1 for third straight year. Won 12 titles, including three Grand Slam crowns. Year-end ranking 1.
2005: Finished No. 1 for second straight year. Won 11 titles, including two Grand Slams. Year-end ranking 1.
2004: Won 11 titles in as many finals, including three Grand Slam titles. Year-end ranking 1.
2003: Won seven titles in nine finals, including his first Grand Slam crown at Wimbledon. Year-end ranking 2.
2002: Opened the season with a title in Sydney and earned first Masters title in Hamburg and another in Vienna. Year-end ranking 6.
2001: Won first ATP title in Milan. Year-end ranking 13. 2000: Reached first ATP final in Marseille and also in native Basel. Lost in bronze medal match to Di Pasquale at Sydney Olympics. Year-end ranking 29.
1999: Youngest player (18 years, 4 months) to finish in the top 100 and advanced to his first ATP semifinal in Vienna. Year-end ranking 65.
1998: Best result was reaching the quarterfinal in Toulouse. Year-end ranking 301.
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Defau...Mode=HTML&GZ=T
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/8...fan-looks-back
Roger Federer: A Fan Looks Back
Tennis—the beautiful sport of balls, nets, and racquets—has seen some of the most glorious and glittering careers in the world of sports.
It has seen the legends like Bjorn Borg, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Ivan Lendl, Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, Andre Kirk Agassi, and countless other sparkling performers, players who have written the stories of their unreplicable journeys of disappointments and exhilarations in indelible ink in the history books of this great sport. And more importantly, they've written it in the hearts of millions of Sport-Lovers who have seen and fallen into raptures at the sight of Great Victories, Broken into tears at the sight of heart-wrenching falls.
With each passing era came its own unique excitements and styles. From Laver's Grand Era to Borg's 'Ice-men' kind, from McEnroe's temperamental style to Sampras' serene kind, From serve and Volley to the pukka baseline play—the sport and players had always only evolved with time and for good.
The process has been slow and steady.
And then, a little after the fall of the new Millennium, the world witnessed one of the most astonishing eras of the Great Sport, An Era which dawned at the Holy Grail of Tennis—the Lush Green Lawns of The Championships. The birth of a Champion who is today, probably the Greatest ever to play this sport (and saying 'Probably' may be being unfair to him).
A man who has given this wonderful sport the kind of Meaning and Definition like none before him had. A certain Genius hailing from the Alpine hills of the Playground of Europe. A guy who could do practically anything with a Tennis Racquet.
It may have actually begun one fine Monday afternoon in mid-2001, when the world sat back expecting another Pete Sampras win at the Center Court of Wimbledon. Instead, what they witnessed was a Lawn Tennis Masterclass from a virtually unknown Swiss Teenager (Not many really remembered and recognised this Young boy who had broken down uncontrollably during the presentation at the Sydney Olympics, where he had ended up in the agonising fourth position).
Sampras had had a Poor year, but this was Wimbledon, his Private Property, he couldnt lose here, right?...Wrong. In a memorable five-set thriller, a 19-year-old Swiss prodigy dethroned the King of Wimbledon, the winner of seven of the last eight Championships.
The Most significant implication of this match at that time to the Tennis World might have been the now un-ignorable signs of the impending fall of curtains in the career of Pistol Pete.
But today, on retrospection, one feels that what was most remarkable about this match was the manner in which this young man had 'served' and 'returned' out the Great Sampras, the astonishing similarity in the styles of play and the tantalising array of shots. He lost his very next match in the tournament. But Tennis lovers knew they had just witnessed the Birth of a New Champion, who had played and outplayed the Master, who had just passed the ultimate test as far as Lawn Tennis is concerned.
The Era took its time to unfold, and in that interval, a good many had started questioning this man's ability to really 'Get there, where he truly belongs'. He had a quick Temper, he used to abandon his strategies on court a bit too soon if they didn't work out right, he used to get frustrated too quickly.Simply put, he just was yet to become the Champion he had the potential to, but the makings were evident.
Then 2003 happened, The Breakthrough year of this Promising player. Coming from some First-Round losses, bearing the memory of his disastrous Opening Round Exit at Wimbledon the year before, he came into The Championships determined to make a few amends. And what we saw was one of the most masterful Grand Slam Campaigns ever, winning the most coveted Silverware in the world of Tennis dropping just a single set throughout the Tournament.
Finally he had arrived.
And he was different. He didn't have height that casts a long shadow or muscles that shouted at you. And he played the sport which is yet to be given the sporting credit it deserves.
In the new era of Power-Hitters, of double handed backhanders, this man played elegant, Swift, Graceful, creative and 'beautiful-looking' Tennis. His Forehand Looked and WAS Devastating. His Serve looked unpredictable. His half Volleys always hit the bull's eye, and his baseline play was most impeccable. And of course, The pleasure of watching the Single Handed Backhand, a quality one at that, in action is one of its kind..
This man was fast becoming one with no seeming weakness at all. He was Destiny's Child.
He was Roger Federer.
Before we realised it, an unofficial Rule had been written down to the guidelines of Tennis: No one beats Roger Federer, especially and most importantly, on the big stages. For that, the Swiss needed to have a Big off day (and he didn't have many of those) or it was the Matador of Spin, Rafael Nadal on Clay.
And Losing to Nadal on Clay was very soon to be acknowledged as 'No Crime', even for a Superhuman, as the Spaniard was to become (and still remains) a 'yet to be recognised' species on Clay. So It became the Fact of the Game - Federer = unbeatable on any surface barring the red Clay.
He would win 10 of the 15 tournaments he participates in, and those he doesn't win are either on Clay against Nadal or it is because of exhaustion.
But Roger Federer cannot, will not and doesn't fail.
He would ghost past opponents in a flurry. He had an answer to every question you could possibly throw at him. Even as you marvel a shot you have just made, something whizzes past you and you hear 'Game, Set, Match Federer'. You say, 'Uh what just happened? What did he just do?'...Yeah That was a winner from him, he got to that ball, he hit that ball in that angle, That is a winner and the Match is over.
Every time a Challenger came close to threatening his throne, The Swiss was quick to fend him off by starting some 40-match winning streaks.
Every time he entered a rare dry patch, he would bounce back at the most unlikely of Tournaments, beating the Most unlikely of Opponents—for example, the Title-less three months post AO '07 which was to be followed up with a thumping victory of Nadal on Clay at Hamburg.
Every time critics started raising their eyebrows - take for example the surprise back-to-back defeats in 2007 at Paris and Shanghai(Rob Rd 1), He would follow it up with a most masterful and comprehensive performance in the Showdown of the Year.
He had all the Gears: A, B, C, D, E...You name it. Other players in the circuit couldn't stop praising the man, The Lovers of the sport couldn't get enough of him, The Media was left wanting more and more.
He was The Mighty Federer. The Man to Beat.
And at some point or the other, he himself started believing, not just in his greatness but also in his infallibility.
And then happened...2008. And things changed.
This was supposed to be THE year..The Year Federer was to Break Sampras' Big Record of Slams. But Things didnt work out as planned.
He was outplayed at Melbourne by a most deserving Novak Djokovic, humiliated on the Red dirt of Roland Garros by the man who was becoming the biggest Nightmare for the man and his fans alike. Then, the big blow—robbed at his own backyard, the place he had virtually owned, in that agonisingly incredible and immortal match in SW19, stunned at the Quadrennial Extravaganza by a player who had never beaten him in their past some eight clashes.
He suffered disappointment after disappointment and to punctuate these hard losses were...well...losses again to players who had seemed peanuts in front of him just a few months ago.
And finally, after fondling his beloved crown for a mind-boggling Number of 237 straight weeks - Now even thinking that someone will break such kind of a record seems crazy- he was stripped of the No. 1 status.
The Ever so pleasant faced Federer slowly seemed to acquire a haunted look on-court.
Detractors began opening their mouths wide and loud, fans began to shiver, and he himself was unable to understand what was going wrong with him this year...It wasn't supposed to turn out this way, right?
There was no respite for the infallible Fed - because he had finally fallen. He was no longer the Numero Uno, He was no longer the Man to Beat.
And he took it very hard, It hurt him terribly, this.
Coming into the US Open, he was, for the first time since February 2004, The second seed. The Defending Champion wasn't expected to pull off 'great things' this year in the Land of Apples.
But come the Flushing Meadows, The fallen King was determined to set a few things right. Against all the odds stacked against him, he survived Dogfights to reach his 5th straight final where he met a first timer in Slam Finals. But he had met even a veteran of Slams, on that fine Monday evening at New York, it would have been difficult to deny this man who was looking more desperate, more stubborn and more determined than ever. It just meant that Andy Murray was destined to learn what these 'Big maches' take, the hard way.
The Swiss Express was back to being on top of the world, If only for a short time. But this victory was a clear message from the man. He was nowhere close to being done with winning Tennis matches and Tournaments.
It has been a long, punishing and unforgiving year for the Great man, and on retrospect, has indeed been a poor year - and I don't add 'by his lofty standards' for the sake of it, because we are talking about a man who makes history for a living, who lives in a planet to which we are denied visiting rights, a man whose ego has been the fountainhead of his success.
He has had ups and downs in this troubled season, But there have been bright spots and this time around, both he and his fans have celebrated them more heartily than before.
And the final image that he has left to his fans this year has been one to be proud of—The Image of a Man who was plagued with a Stiff back but refused to show the disrespect to the sport of quitting halfway through the match.
The Parting words have been "I don't quit once I step on court. Guess you got to drill me one in the eye, then maybe. But otherwise I don't quit."
The Last impression has been one of resilience.
After all, its times like these we learn to live again...
A tough year to start with, a tough year to end, now the man will have a richly deserved break from the marathon to keep his ranking intact (and Improve it). He will return fitter, stronger, motivated and finer when 2009 comes calling and there is nothing that he would love more than take flight yet again...The Great Federer Flight...
While his wings may no longer flap as easily and effortlessly as before, and may flutter now and then, at the end of the day it would do to remember that this is a man who ran towards fame, grabbed his glory, hugged his victories with tears - no one who has witnessed it are likely to forget his 'On the rough' speech at the Melbourne Park in 2006 - and had to be, quite literally, wrestled off his throne, A man who has an indomitable spirit, the Heart of a Champion...
And as someone rightly said, there may never be another in this sport (or any other for that matter), to fly so far, so ahead, and so close to the sun as Roger Federer.
Viva La Roger.