The Name is Roger Federer

Yes. FedEx. That’s it.  The name says it all.

I was impatiently waiting for this instant. Roger Federer has accomplished the feat after two long years. Yes, you are right. More than two years. He is the Maestro, the Legend, more to that GOAT in Tennis. Greatest of All Time.

Married to Mirka Vavrinec, his long term girlfriend on April 2009, whom he met  during the Sydney Olympic games in 2000. Mirka has quit her game after an injury and she is the PRO for Roger since 2002. Roger is now a Father too.  Father of twin daughters from July 2009.

Four Australian Open, One French Open, Seven Wimbledon, Five US open. A total of Seventeen Grand slam Titles so far. Yes this ‘so far’ signifies more is yet to come. He is sixth on all time Grand slam singles list. The top 5 are Female players including Steffi Graff and Navratilova.  Federer is followed by Pete Sampras with 14. By winning the seventh Wimbledon, he places a full stop to all those Questions, Arguments, Analysis, and Debates ‘Whether his Era is Over?’ or ‘Is he losing his grip in tennis?’ or ‘Is he going to retire?’ that were feeding the media for the last two and a half years. He came back.

He is holding a record for No-1 ranking for 237 consecutive weeks and a total of 285 one shy of Pistol Pete. And it is getting equaled this weekJ.  So it’s 286* now.

I have closely followed him from 2003 till date. May be googling every single day knowing about his schedule, results and whereabouts. May be I like one form of sport because of a single player. Till then I never heard or like tennis. And whenever he comes to play, I never had a doubt over his dominance over the Opponent. I happily sleep and comfortably wake up next day, read the headlines about his conquest. But the scenario has changed.

 2008 must be the most terrible year for Roger. Wimbledon is considered as the home ground for FedEx, Like Rolland Garros for his nemesis Nadal. What happened in 2008 Wimbledon final must be a Virtual feast for Tennis Fans. No doubt. But for the first time in the den, Lion was traumatized. Yes a five set defeat given by Nadal to the Maestro. Till 2008, it was known that only the French Open is a nightmare to Roger that too for the reason, Nadal. But the Wimbledon gave a different picture. It exposed his psychological commotion on every occasion he meets Nadal and not the style of play which is the explanation for his failure over Rafa. He lost his world No 1 ranking where he was comfortably staying for 237 long weeks, insurmountable. And since then it is dreadful to his followers whenever he comes to face Nadal in other surfaces also. And as scared, he got crushed so many times not only by Rafa and others also. Preponderantly Djoko and Rafa to be precise.

But the only player who holds the record for more number of victories in head to head against Federer is none other than Rafa. That too all his endeavor went distorted in the French open finals from 2006 to 2008 as he faced Nadal there. Had he overcome those three, his count should have been 20 by now.

He has participated in the last 36 Grand slams. Won 17 and reached 24 Finals. That stands for his physical fitness throughout these nine extensive years which is an inconceivable for any player in any form of sports. That is Roger.

He was my inspiration or idol since my college days heretofore. During his era , that is from 2005 to 2007, I genuinely thought of suggesting Oxford or Webster to have ‘Roger Federer’ as an additional synonym for the word ’Consistent’. But now, Shall I recommend ‘Roger Federer’ for ‘Phoenix Bird’?

More and more records to come. Olympics Gold Medal is not at a distance, I hope. He may be playing there in the court for another two to three years. But he will inspire billions of heart for the rest of the years to come.

Veni Vidi Vici. I came I saw I conquered. The Name is Roger Federer.