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ShareEveryone who knows me knows that I am a diehard fan of the tennis genius Roger Federer. In this I am certainly not alone. Millions all over the world are in thrall of his supreme talent, his lyrical grace, his beautiful playing style, the sheer variety of his shots, and his domination of the men's game... I could go on forever and for the first time since I have, the knives are out. This is the time when some will say that I have to eat crow.
Federer, the number one male tennis player in the world lost on Sunday for the third time in a French Open final to Rafael Nadal, the number two player in the world. So, ask the black crows hovering around me: Has my admiration for Federer dimmed somewhat? Has doubt entered my mind? Do I accept at last that that his career is on a downward spiral?
The only way to answer any of these is to separate the Federer fan from the tennis fan. Can I be objective enough to answer that? "You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation," Plato is supposed to have said. To me, tennis is like watching a contest of human qualities. Ideally, players require skill, strength, brain power, grit, courage and staying power. Any one of them is not enough to make you great -- it can take you only so far. But sometimes, someone is able to take a limitation and make it into a strength. And yes, it's also a bit gladiatorial, a fight to the death or till the umpire says "game set and match" and unlike the poor gladiators, the players have to walk to the net and shake hands with each other. All of this makes it fascinating to watch. And then, sometimes, as with Federer, you find the player who has it all.
In your eyes, he or she can therefore do no wrong.
So, when they do, the black crows come out. Some of the questions are easy to answer: Admiration of a player's skill is not based on one win or one loss (sideswipe: I'm not like an Indian cricket fan who bays for blood after every loss and awards a Padma Vibhushan after every victory).
Doubts about talent? No one could doubt that, not even an Indian cricket fan. Downward spiral? The best question of all: certainly, this year has been very bad by Federer's exalted standards. He has won only one title so far at a fairly insignificant tournament in Portugal. But he is still number one in the world and will continue at that spot for a while.
Objectivity is another matter. Is it possible? I can admire the way his opponents play and I always appreciate the way a match plays out. When Federer plays, I root for him. I do applaud great shots made by his opponent, but I would much rather Federer won. But I do not decide, with every loss, that the match was fixed, that the other guy cheated, that the umpire wasn't fair, and all those other problems which could arise.
A win's a win and a loss you have to bear with. Nadal played a superb match. No one can deny him that. And no sports lover could or should. He is, without doubt, the king of the clay courts, unbeaten at Roland Garros, where he has made four appearances and won four titles.
So the crows will have to wait for now for an admission of failure from me. Crows are greedy for misfortune, looking for a piece of the pie. Death is heralded by vultures and they are not visible on the horizon yet. Federer, I suspect, still has some good game in him and then some.
In the meanwhile, it's the doves whom I must give thanks to. Never have I received so many commiserations for a loss of a game by a tennis player. Maybe the whole world is a Federer fan or people just pretend to be crows till bad things happen and then they morph into doves.
Email:b_ranjona@dnaindia.net
