Roger Federer is Dead - Long Live Roger Federer
Giovanna
Japan Times
"He is suffering something of a wobble."
Daily Mail
"Changing of the guard? Not quite. Shifting of the guard? Absolutely."
ESPN.com
The rug was pulled out from under Rome and all of tennis yesterday
when Roger Federer dumped out to Ernests 'practice is for losers'
Gulbis in the 2nd round of the Internationali BNL D'Italia. The
internet went nuclear with articles posted at the speed of thought (I
swear I read one before the third set was even over) about the state
of the world No 1's career after such a staggering defeat. First Maros
Baghdatis and Tomas Berdych, and now this?
If there was blood in the water before, it was a cherry red oil spill
now.
And aren't we sharks when it's Federer's blood? Oh God, we want him to
lose. At least once in awhile. He's so PERFECT! Perfect hair, perfect
clothes, perfect life with his perfect twins and his perfect kajillion
dollars in the bank. And all his records. Is there something out there
his name isn't carved into? Or etched, or cemented or latch hooked or
otherwise branded? It's enough to warp the mind.
Already it's warping reason. Roger Federer, as we know him, is a thing
of the past. Really?
Certainly Mr. Perfect hasn't been playing much like a No 1 the last
few months, losing listless 3rd set tiebreakers to Baghs and the
Birdman and, having won the first set handily against the Latvian
yesterday, he proceeded to get breadsticked out of nowhere and then
blew several chances to snatch the win from an opponent who, by his
own admission during all his botched match points, was "s***ing in my
pants."
Has Mr. Perfect lost his cape?
But who out there has the credentials - in the press, in the booth, in
the locker room - to dissect the dude? Like it or not, the man is in
rarefied air. Who can fully comprehend what it's like to not only be
so good day in and day out, but to have broken all those records with
nowhere else to go? He's chasing no one. There's no pace car in his
eyeline. He's won more majors than any other man to have ever played
the game. He's rolled around naked in more prize money (isn't that
what people do with piles of cash that high? Or is that just my
fantasy?) and snagged more endorsements deals than almost anyone in
all of sport. In fact, according to the latest ESPN the Magazine cover
story, he's turned down $60 million in endorsement deals in the last
18 months alone. I'm guessing the same can't be said of Baghdatis,
Berdych or Gulbis.
Or Mardy Fish, or Julien Benneteau, or Filippo Volandri. Oh yeah, the
ghosts of shocking upsets past. If this Federer Panic seems all too
familiar, it's because it is. We have been here before. Don't believe
me? Take another look at the quotes at the top. They're actually not
from the Gulbis loss, they're from the Volandri, Benneteau and Fish
losses, respectively. We love to jump to conclusions.
Here's the bigger conclusion. Roger's rebounded from all of them.
Months after each guard-changing loss, he would go on to hoist yet
another major trophy. Fed has a habit of doing that. It's why we love/
hate him.
Meanwhile, with Roger sliding into his coffin and closing the lid
himself (ever the gentleman!), who's going to take his place week in
and week out? Rafa will certainly give him more than a run on the
clay. In fact, he could overtake him at No 1 with all those grass
court points the Spaniard missed out on last year that he can now
gobble up like Pac-Man at an all you can eat buffet. But the Roger and
Rafa Show has been going on for years. Who else in this shifting guard
is manning up for this knife fight? Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray are
suffering more angst than a season's worth of Dawson's Creek. Juan
Martin del Potro and Nikolay Davydenko are suffering more injuries
than five seasons of ER (I really need to update my DVR). And the
remainder of the top ten has a collective 3-37 head-to-head against
him.
Hm.
Let's also not forget the corpse is only 28 years old and at the peak
of health.
Were I to lob a guess as to what's going on between Fed's ears (and
again, I have 16 less Slam trophies, so this is full-on conjecture),
I'd say the man's bored. Besides a couple of feats he's still to pull
off - most notably breaking Sampras's Weeks at No 1 record and
pocketing a bright shiny Davis Cup trophy – what does he have left to
play for? Besides even more adoration (and I'm sure he rolls around
naked in that).
Roger called the Gulbis loss a "wake-up call." I think he nailed it.
He's been sleepwalking. This loss in particular will wake the beast
and remind him of why he plays in the first place. Not for all the
records, or the endorsements, or the latch-hooks, or the adoration. Or
even perfection. Roger Federer plays to win.
So let's revel in this fallen moment, giggle with glee and wring our
hands together at the thought of a sport not gripped by Roger Federer.
As Rog's proven again and again in the past, it's not going to last.
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