On Sunday 'Greatness' was redefined. The phenomenon was born approximatley 27 years ago, however the initial, albeit insignificant vestiges of any marked grandeur were only seen in 1987. Within few years, the tennis world was to spectacle a legend in making. The world then was fortunate enough to watch him learn, and the world now is awed by his simple presence there, a legend's presence.
The final battle, on Sunday, ensued for four hours and 16 minutes with a scoreline of 5-7 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 16-14, a 78 game epic. The final set alone lasted for going on for over an hour and half, the longest set in the history of Wimbledon. The match established Roger Federer's supremacy not only in the current arena, but in the history of tennis; Federer regained the top spot as well. All the questions were answered- Had Roger Federer sealed his place in sporting history? Was he the greatest ever to lift a tennis racket? Had he transcended the likes of bygone greats like Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, and Pete Sampras?
With back to back victories in the 2 Grand Slams ( in French Open before Wimbeldon), Federer became one of the very few to win all four majors and surpass Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slams. There is, perhaps, very little that can make an all-time grand slam record more special. And to that, Roger Federer owes Andy Roddick, the man who took runner's up trophy third time in a row.
Unfortunately, I didn't have access to this moment of glory, of reckoning. But, soon enough (next day :( ), I captured all that had happened, through various sources and would like to post some of those memorable quotes and happenings:
Just after the match-
Chants of “Roddick, Roddick” rang through the arena, as the crowd came to terms with the epic match it had just been witness to.
“I’m one of the lucky few that gets cheered for so thank you, I appreciate that,” said the ever-gracious American, quickly overcoming what was clearly a heart-wrenching loss for him. “I want to say congratulations to Roger: well done, he deserves it.”
“If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same,” reads a sign above the entrance to Center Court.
At the post-match conference-
Roddick, after the defeat -
For once a roomful of journalists were lost for words. There was nothing they wanted to ask Andy Roddick because every question felt too ghoulish. What did we need to know? Andy Roddick had played the greatest game of his life and had still lost.
Did you lose to the world’s greatest tennis player ever? “Yeah.”
“He just makes it real tough. You know, he was having trouble picking up my serve today for the first time ever. He just stayed the course. You didn't even get a sense that he was even really frustrated by it. He gets a lot of credit for a lot of things, but not a lot of the time is how many matches he kind of digs deep and toughs out. He doesn't get a lot of credit for that because it looks easy to him a lot of the times. But he definitely stuck in there today.”
And here's the Greatest-Ever himself, Federer -
“I used to get nervous when a friend would come and watch me play as a kid, and then it was my parents, and then it was legends. Today anybody can come and watch me play, I don't get nervous anymore. But with Pete it was a bit special. When he walked in and I saw him for the first time, I did get more nervous actually. I said hello to him too, which is unusual. But I thought, I don't want to be rude!”- Federer grinned.
"I'm happy at least that I became No. 1 in the world by winning the tournament, not just by him not playing at all, or me playing decent or someone else playing decent and getting to No. 1. That's not the way it's supposed to be. You win big matches, big tournaments – that's how you get back to it.” - Federer on Nadal's absence.
“My career has had a lot of ups and downs but Mirka has always been there. I’m unbelievably grateful to her. She had to stop playing because she had such pain in her foot, but she went really quickly from being a player to my girlfriend and my helper, and it was never a problem for her. I’m really lucky.” - Federer for Mirka, his wife.
Tennis legends on Federer's greatness -
“should just watch his feet, just watch Roger and not the ball, and you'd see how great a player he is to pull off some of the shots. ” - Australian great Rod Laver, to anyone who is unsure of Federer’s greatness.
And finally, Sampras -
"He's a great guy, he's humble, which I like. He's sort of effortless, he doesn't seem like he's working that hard out there. He plays at that level so easily, he serves big, he's got a great forehand, his backhand's solid, he's got everything and he's got the belief. The critics say (Rod) Laver, and (Rafa) Nadal beat him a few times in majors, but he's won all the majors, he's going to win a few more here, so in my book he is. "
The win, on Sunday, apotheosized Federer.
Labels: Federer, grand slam, great, Rod Laver, Roddick, Roger Federer, Sampras, Sports, tennis, wimbeldon, wimbeldon final
