"There's one more left" - Roger on Wednesday"I'll have a chance to win this tournament for the next five or ten years, you know" - Roger on Wednesday"probably later on in life, you know, I'll go 'That was a great match'. But right now it;s not much of ... a positive thing to end this match" - Roger after losing the Final."It is a disaster, the French is nothing in comparison..." - Roger after losing the Final.
Roger, I understand that by your own high standards, you are very disappointed to lose and that you couldn't win 6 in a row. I cant imagine what it must be like to be frustrated by the wind, rain and fading light and to not always be able to serve up the breathless tennis we have come to take for granted. Worse still, it must hurt to lose to the man who has stood between you and an elusive career slam, and has slowly but gradually gained ground on your most favorite of courts. Kudos to Nadal, but I know you will be back.
On a personal note, I believe that today's final was the mother of all finals and has injected new life into the game of tennis. People all over the world today were overawed - I went to play tennis soon after the end of the final. After we finished playing, a man in his late 40's - early 50's took the court sporting a 'Wimbledon' tennis bag. He said that this was the first time he'd stepped onto the court for 10 years. Imagine the impact of the game on kids who may go on to play the game just because of what happened today. Even my NFL/Football loving neighbors were shouting and yelling as if the Seattle Sea Hawks were in a playoff game.
I know the loss hurts right now and I cant imagine what that feeling of emptiness must feel like. I agree that it is too soon for you to say that you are "happy to be part of one of the greatest matches ever". That by itself is not a consolation for any player who is thirsty to win more titles at the highest level. That is the right attitude to have, but don't be too hard on yourself. You did nothing wrong and have everything to be proud off.
The world does take you for granted and we are also fickle by nature but we would love to see you win again.
I know that will come soon - just dont walk away or give up.
I know you wont - you are too good for that.
Signed,
Obaid
2 comments:
obaid...your open letter to fedex was classic...and very moving...we just witnessed two athletes in professional tennis performing at their best..and we could not ask for more...at the end of the day, the bull was the last man standing...I, like you believe that there is a lot more left in the tank for fedex...and i think that he will come back stronger for sure...this defeat will take a long time for him to digest, but for now, we should toast to the evolution of a new rivalry in mens tennis, after the likes of Borg-Mcenroe, Becker-Edberg, Sampras-Agassi...Federer-Nadal is hopefully here to stay...12 down, 3 more to go for Fedex...lets keep our fingers crossed and celebrate the player that is roger federer...and congratulate rafa the bull for such a mature performance!!!
Thanks for reading Ujay... Good analogy of the bull. It was almost the matador with all his grace and finesse versus the raw power of the spanish bull...
Yes, Fed has a lot of soul searching to do and to find out what motivates him. If its the records and the career slam, I believe he will come back stronger. Even a simple and re-affirmed desire to beat Nadal would be good enough. At the US Open Im giving Djokovic a higher billing than Nadal, and the man for Federer to beat.
who knows, maybe Nadal will come back stronger in this hard-court season.
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