Roger Federer, we release you.
Cartoon from The New Yorker
Before Sunday, Roger Federer’s last grand slam victory was at the Australian Open in 2010. Since then it’s been two and a half years of mental torment, recrimination and self-doubt—not for Federer, whose perfect hair remained unruffled by the dominance of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, but for Federer fans like myself.
I hope you’re a better human than I am, because I was reduced to hoping that Nadal’s knees would fall off (Not impossible, given the way he plays) or that Djokovic would split in half (Not impossible either—his upper torso goes left, his legs go right, boom! Manananggal). Sportswriters wrote Roger off (He’s 30)—I stopped reading them. He got cranky after his losses—I figured he’d been babysitting his twins. I watched the grand slams almost furtively, lest others gloat that he’d become “vincible”.
Suddenly we’re back! Okay, technically not “suddenly”—he had to win seven matches at Wimbledon—and not “we” because he did all the work.
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July 18th, 2012 at 03:03
“I hope you’re a better human than I am, because I was reduced to hoping that Nadal’s knees would fall off…”
This! Also, cheering for Djokovic in all those slam finals. I was a mess during this year’s Australian Open final.
Meanwhile, watch Safin pay homage to Goderer. And there’s a short footage of Blonderer. http://youtu.be/AYViXUlD5Wc
July 18th, 2012 at 17:26
Unfortunately, I am not a better human. Well, half-better maybe as I only wished that at some point during the Championships that Nole ingest gluten to activate his allergies again and affect his game. So when Roger was about to face Djokovic, I brought out my inner Aling Dionisia and prayed to the tennis gods (Marat included) to grant Roger the powers once again.
I don’t really want to say it but I thank Rafael Nadal for bowing out in the early rounds. Life’s so much better when he’s out in the early stages of a Grand Slam. :)