As the curtains fell down on yet another epic grand slam final involving the two foremost gladiators of today’s tennis in the Rod Laver Arena yesterday, the world witnessed something beyond the ordinary.
A seemingly inconsolable Roger Federer not able to control his emotions and the whole crowd including Rod Laver himself at their wits’ ends on how to go ahead with the presentation of the trophies.
It took the strong arm of Rafael Nadal wrapped around the Swiss ace’s shoulders and his immensely and genuinely sweet words with which he started his address "Sorry Roger" to get Fedex to being his normal composed self.
Now , this to me was the biggest highlight of the match and it indeed symbolizes the real essence and purpose of sports.They fight unbelievably hard on the courts and don’t wish to give an inch to each other yet once the final point is decided they make the mutual admiration and respect more than evident.
As someone who grew up reading about the fantastic stories of Connors, Bjorg and McEnroe days and witnessing the on again off again duel of the effervescent Aggassi and the clinical Sampras over the years, the fascinating and unparalleled on-court rivalry between the Spaniard and the Swiss, for me, is nothing less than God gifted.
Roger vs Rafa.One has ruled the Tennis world for more than 200 weeks in succession(One of Roger’s many records) winning Grand Slams with unmistakable ease(except the French, of course) and drawn parallel with all the previous legends of the open era , only to be dethroned by the other who has gone on from being dubbed as yet another clay court specialist to being the master of all surfaces(grass included) with his range of shots that makes every tennis lover rub his eyes in disbelief over and over again.
One who can return the fastest of the Roddick serves without batting an eyelid and regularly hand the top ten players a lesson and then the other who just doesn’t concede any point without stretching every muscle in his body howsoever far the return maybe and yet is as fresh at the end of a fifth set tiebreaker as he is at the start of the match.
One who has perfected the art that tennis is, with the serves, the winners(both forehand and backhand), the volleys, the slices and everything that one requires in one’s arsenal to be a world beater in tennis and then the other who not only has repeated the same feat but also has improved upon the perfection with his unbelievable agility and athleticism.
Just after the end of the Sampras and shortly afterwards the Agassi era in men’s tennis, the void at the top was all the more apparent.Although players like Roddick, Hewitt and Safin took turns at being the numero uno there was no such domination by one person any more.
This is when we saw the advent of Roger who not only beat the above said players repeatedly on various surfaces but also brought back the aura of total tennis and invincibility last exhibited by Sampras.As he started winning grand slams with very little hiccups and worked towards his only big challenge of mastering the slow paced clay surfaces, the Miami masters witnessed a huge upset when Rafael Nadal, then ranked 38th and aged only 18 upset Federer in straight sets.This was the first of their meetings.
Then the rivalry gathered further steam on the clay courts of Roalnd Garros(3 finals and a semifinal) and elsewhere where till date Rafa enjoys a 9-1 scoreline against Federer stamping his authority on his favorite surface over the master, beyond any doubt.In the meantime though Roger was going from strength to strength consolidating his invincibility on the other surfaces and sending his opponents into disbelief and disdain.
Rafa on the other hand too went on to claim the second spot by improving his game with amazing efficiency and hence their meetings became rare.But whenever they met be it the historic centre court of Wimbledon (2-1 to Federer)or the Hard courts of ATP events(3-3, honours even) , they more often than not created the magic and sowed the seeds of a enduring rivalry of the very best quality, one that the sport was yearning for in years.
I , being a huge Federer fan after watching him decimate others with such regularity and precision over the years was always disappointed when Nadal would beat him at the French with relative ease.But now after the last two Wimbledon Finals and last night’s Australian open final I am as big a fan of Nadal and the rivalry occupies the top most level in my sports crazy brain.
The very fact that I was sure of yesterday’s clash being a gripping five setter even before it started and I had no doubts of Nadal’s physical condition being at it’s very best despite the experts suggesting otherwise, is a testimony to my expectations from a Rafa-Roger matchup.Delight is an understatement of what I feel when these two come up against each other invariably in a tournament final.It is a guarantee that as a viewer I would witness the very best that the sport has to offer.It is indeed true that in their duels whoever looses , the sport ultimately triumphs.