For the love of Grass

The title may be misleading and might give you a few thoughts totally irrelevant to the point of discussion, but it looked really apt for me. For those of who are still thinking in the same lines as before, please come out of the groove, we are talking about grass courts and yes; WIMBLEDON.

Wimbledon is every tennis fan's favorite slam and the dream of every aspiring tennis star. The Borgs and the McEnroe’s and the Becker’s and the Sampras’ have been the rulers of this arena from the 70’s till the early 2000’s; there was this wildcard who rocked the center court to take the slam for an year, then there was this man from down under who claimed it for an year and that was the end of it.

Emerged a champion from nowhere in 2001; this youngster from the Swiss defeated the reigning champion Pete Sampras in the round of 16. Under the horizon of a fading hero, rose a new star. He neither won the tournament nor reached the finals, but definitely won “one too many” hearts with his sterling performance all through that year. That’s Roger Federer for you!!!

Despite the elusion of Wimbledon for two more years, Federer grew in strength by adding a few ATP titles to his kitty and also climbing up the ladder in terms of the ATP World rankings. It is always said to be third-time lucky, and it was for Federer as well. Dropping just one set in the entire tournament the Swiss ace took the title for the first time in 2003 and then there was no stopping this soft spoken giant. 2004 was an eventful year for Federer, as he won three out of the four grand slams and slowly by surely he was proving his mettle on “Grass” to the world. In the same year he also won the “World sportsman of the Year” award thumping the likes of Schumi, Lance Armstrong (Tour de France Champ) and Valentino Rossi (Moto GP Champ). Accolades started pouring in for the young man and he became a rolling juggernaut.

He is an unstoppable force on grass, which he has proved time and again in the All England Lawn Tennis Club. He was adding new feathers to his cap with the World No.1 ranking, ATP Masters’ titles, Triple world sportsman of the year, but for the French open title that eluded him for 2 years in succession. He effectively erased the bad memories of the French open loss with yet another Wimbledon. Man! He is getting better year after year on his favorite surface.

And then came the day of reckoning when he had to equal the record for the successive Wimbledon titles in the open era with none other than the Swedish legend Bjorn Borg. He had not lost on grass for 5 consecutive years and for almost 40 matches, and he came into the final by dropping just one set on his road to the finals. His finals opponent dint make it a usual day at the office for Federer. He was made to sweat; he played a 5 set match on center court (after that turning point match with Sampras way back in 2001) but always kept a cool head. Nadal on the other hand was determined not to let him ride on pleasant seas; he was only able to delay the inevitable and was not able to terminate Federer’s stunning run on grass.

The man started crying after his victory and his speech after receiving the trophy was top-class. Modesty was written all over his words, not taking away any credit from hi opponent. “Nadal played exceptional tennis; someone had to win and today was my lucky day”.

My previous boss used to tell “Modesty is what keeps great performers at the pedestal for a long time”. Sachin and A.R. Rahman are the usual examples he quotes. Now I have a new name to add to the list. Roger “Grass King” Federer”