He was at the zenith of his career. He must have thought to himself—leave when people ask why and not why not! The man with 20 Grand Slam titles against his name and a record 237 weeks as the Numero Uno had to bid adieu and had his last hurrah at the Laver Cup event in London on 23 September this year.
He was nursing a recalcitrant right knee and a third ineffective surgery checkmated the reigning King of Tennis. There were a spate of injuries and operations that he had to reckon with and he struggled to get back to his true form but in the process succumbed to the limits of his body. The 41-year-old had played more than 1,500 games in a career spanning 24 years. He kept running to stay in the same place—at the very top!
His illustrious career was an essay at mastery and domination. He strode like a colossus decimating his hapless opponents, who had no clue as to what the master was up to. His swan song which signalled the emotional and gracious exit made legions of his followers and fans teary eyed. Why even his worthy rival Rafael Nadal who had fought many had battles against him was caught up in the emotion of the moment and was seen sobbing intensely. He was going to part ways with a valiant and worthy rival and was overwhelmed! Seldom do we see such public display of emotion and it kind of says it all.
Watching Federer play is a religious experience says David Foster Wallace in his famous piece in NYT. He opines, “Beauty is not the goal of competitive sports, but high-level sports are a prime venue for the expression of human beauty. The relation is roughly that of courage to war.”
What has made Roger Federer the legend that he is are his passion and commitment to the game, his stoic attitude towards wins and losses, mental toughness, sportsmanship of the highest order, on and off court behaviour, overall decency, affable mannerisms, thoughtfulness and the connect with the crowd.
He is in a class beyond compare and would be in the elite list of sportsmen drawn from all sports. Tiger Woods in Golf, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan in Basketball, Sachin Tendulkar and Garfield Sobers in Cricket and the likes.
They are all champions in every sense of the term.
Roger Federer has raised the bar and has set such high standards that generations will find difficult to emulate.
The statistics speak for themselves.
As someone quoted and I reproduce here, it succinctly captures who Roger Federer was
“A deity with racquet in hand yet a humble human once match point is over, Federer had this mirthful demigod quality to him”
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