Roger does it ....in vintage style

"The higher you soar,the smaller you appear to those who cannot fly"

Words that Nirmal Shekar quoted nine years ago when Sampras won his 14 th Grand slam when people around him said he was "a step and a half slower" and had lost his firepower .He battled all odds and did it when it mattered the most.

Things similar to what were said of Federer before the French Open. Roger ,like Sampras ,has proved his critics wrong and shown the world why many consider him the best ever in history.

The killer forehand was missing, the first serve percentages were having a negative slope,the unforced errors were suprisingly on the higher side than his opponent.Roger could have easily given in to a persevering Hass or a mercurial Del Porto or even a nameless Tom who stretched him to five sets ,but he found his own way to manufacture winners that came from nowhere.The shots had the necessary friction,speed,spin,momentum,direction,swing when it needed the most.

When Roger lost his Wimbledon crown to Rafa last year ,it took a while for us to sink the result into our minds.He plays with his heart.That was why he wept when he won his first Grand slam, wept after losing the Australian Open and wept after crossing the final frontier.When the going is tough,when people start thinking he is done and dusted ,when people doubt his supremacy on court,he comes with his genius and asserts he is still the best craftsman on the court.That's what make champions and Legends.That's what make Roger Federer.

When Roger could not cross the final hurdle at Roland Garros,.someone asked "Is Federer destined not to win the French open ?".And only with time we came to realise "Federer is destined to win the French Open as his 14 th Grand Slam,making it the greatest victory of his career".....How beautiful is sport...!

"God, It's killing me "

Greatness can seldom be defined,nor does it come with time or victories but from the titanic pursuits of attaining it.It is marked by an unparalled skill and mastery of an art,but this man was not an artist,he was the one who created the art itself.His raquet spoke to the tennis ball giving it instructions of speed,movement and direction, with clinical precision.The art was so fascinating and awestruck that Wordsworth would have declared his sight at Wimbledon more beautiful than the one upon Westminster bridge.

Comparing Pete and Roger is like trying to find out which one is better,the discovery of fire or the invention of the internet.Both the most gigantic feats of their time,so are these two champions.The technical and aesthetic brilliance in Federer's game is unparalled and is only overcome and outsmarted by the brute force and tenacity of a man called Rafa , the only man on the planet who could make look an ordinary player on court.

Heros and Supermen dont cry,but artists do.There has always been this conflict between the art and the artist,one trying to be greater than the other.Most times,as in Roger's case, the art has the last laugh proving the artist that there can be only one masterpiece and it is for which the artist was born and not the vice versa.Roger cried because he realised he can no longer produce that killer forehands which made the coup de grace of his battles in the centre court in the All England Lawn Club,he cried for the art that was in jeopardy and not for his career.

Vintage Federer becomes Alien Again

It was as if Roger Federer sprinting and Andy Murray crawling in a 100 meter race.For that brief period in the first set ,he looked the man we knew about,the Federer we had heard of as a man from another planet.The impecccable forehand ,the ground coverage,the surgical precision in the mixing of defence and offence,the unplayable return of second serve,the dunk that reminded of elusive pete....Oh it looked as if Ernest Hemingway writing his old man and the sea,an artist finishing his masterpiece.This US open is special in every sense for the champion as he competed not only with other players but also his self doubts,the criticisms,the questions on the end of his supremacy......
Nadal on the other night looked far lesser than his greatness against a resurgent Andy Murray,who by his armour of ruthless defence and baseline play made the best player of the year look pretty ordinary.It is quite unbeleivable how Federer managed to do the same to Murray himself.Federer came with a purpose to demonstrate the world he is still in that untouchable zone...
And here he is...Just four months away from attaining that greatest of all records ,that magical number fourteen at Melbourne...