By Joe Schackman
For a few sets this past weekend, Roger Federer recaptured the magic that has made him one of the game's greats. Then, just as quick as it arrived, it was gone.
In one of the more renowned sports pieces of the last 20 years, Federer as a Religious Experience, the late David Foster Wallace describes what he so accurately labels a Federer Moment. It’s a moment of elation that can only come while watching Roger Federer, who through his sheer brilliance brings us to our knees, face inches from the television, trying to figure out how exactly he hit that shot from that position at that moment. In tennis, these moments don’t produce a fist-pumping scream. Rather, it goes beyond that, reaching a level of awe and sheer respect for the perfection of the shot. Federer it seemed, for years, had a direct line to those moments.
But this is, unfortunately, no longer the case. Roger Federer is not the number one tennis player in the world, having taken a back seat to Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Federer fans still hope he will turn back the clock to 2006 and make a run at another slam. But time is running out, and that’s what makes this year so painful for those badly in need of the fix they get from those Federer Moments. They are few and far between and only becoming more rare.
To be fair, it has not exactly been a bad year for Roger. He has made it to at least the quarterfinals in every major and even to the finals of the French Open. Yet while that is impressive, men’s tennis operates differently. At the start of a big tournament, there are only a handful of men that could actually win. You could fast forward to the quarterfinals and miss very little. So it is hard to lavish praise on Roger, but it is also unfair to shortchange his accomplishments. He may be struggling, but he’s not washed up.
Federer has had to face off against a younger Djokovic, who is in the process of compiling one of the greatest years of tennis this side of Federer. The Djoker has compiled a record of 64-2, winning three majors featuring tennis that was fantastic by any measure. Following his U.S. Open win over Nadal on Sept. 12, his season could qualify as one of the greatest ever.
But this makes Federer’s decline no less painful. For athletes and sports fans, it’s an inevitable truth that age will always win. We may think that the greats like Derek Jeter and Tiger Woods will find a way to defy the laws of nature, but it’s just not possible.
What these athletes do have is the ability to help us fans time travel. They can hit the rewind button on our lives and remind us what we felt like years ago. When Tiger eagled the eighth hole at the Masters this year, I immediately felt like I was watching the Tiger from more than a decade ago. I saw him in that red sweater, walking down the eighteenth hole, having shattered the scoring record as a 21-year-old. It was not 1997, though, and Tiger sent me back to the future by missing short putts on the back nine.
The same thing happened this past Saturday with Federer. His five set U.S. Open classic with Djokovic was full of Federer Moments, and by the time the first set was over, I was sitting on the floor in front of my TV, transported back to 2006. I laughed and gasped through the first two sets as he channeled his old self. I spent most of the match riding the high of Federer’s brilliant play.
But this is, unfortunately, no longer the case. Roger Federer is not the number one tennis player in the world, having taken a back seat to Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Federer fans still hope he will turn back the clock to 2006 and make a run at another slam. But time is running out, and that’s what makes this year so painful for those badly in need of the fix they get from those Federer Moments. They are few and far between and only becoming more rare.
To be fair, it has not exactly been a bad year for Roger. He has made it to at least the quarterfinals in every major and even to the finals of the French Open. Yet while that is impressive, men’s tennis operates differently. At the start of a big tournament, there are only a handful of men that could actually win. You could fast forward to the quarterfinals and miss very little. So it is hard to lavish praise on Roger, but it is also unfair to shortchange his accomplishments. He may be struggling, but he’s not washed up.
Federer has had to face off against a younger Djokovic, who is in the process of compiling one of the greatest years of tennis this side of Federer. The Djoker has compiled a record of 64-2, winning three majors featuring tennis that was fantastic by any measure. Following his U.S. Open win over Nadal on Sept. 12, his season could qualify as one of the greatest ever.
But this makes Federer’s decline no less painful. For athletes and sports fans, it’s an inevitable truth that age will always win. We may think that the greats like Derek Jeter and Tiger Woods will find a way to defy the laws of nature, but it’s just not possible.
What these athletes do have is the ability to help us fans time travel. They can hit the rewind button on our lives and remind us what we felt like years ago. When Tiger eagled the eighth hole at the Masters this year, I immediately felt like I was watching the Tiger from more than a decade ago. I saw him in that red sweater, walking down the eighteenth hole, having shattered the scoring record as a 21-year-old. It was not 1997, though, and Tiger sent me back to the future by missing short putts on the back nine.
The same thing happened this past Saturday with Federer. His five set U.S. Open classic with Djokovic was full of Federer Moments, and by the time the first set was over, I was sitting on the floor in front of my TV, transported back to 2006. I laughed and gasped through the first two sets as he channeled his old self. I spent most of the match riding the high of Federer’s brilliant play.
But come the end of the fifth set, I was dragged back into 2011. I returned to the couch to count down the days until my next fix, hoping I would get just a few more.
0 comments:
Post a Comment