Federer: The demise of an emperor??

“Rog, sorry for today,” said Nadal, turning to his friend with genuine compassion in his voice. “I really know how you feel right now. Remember that you are a great champion and you are one of the best in history and you will beat Pete Sampras’ 14 titles for sure.”

These were the words of consolation of the ecstatic Spaniard Rafael Nadal, after winning the Australian open and thus preventing Federer to equal Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slams. Federer’s answer to this was a weak smile but signs of pain in his generally emotionless face were clearly visible. No doubt the champion was deeply hurt and the testimonial to it was the trembling of his lips when the trophy was awarded to Nadal. He must have tried his best not to take the limelight away from Nadal at the moment when the Spaniard had his first Australian Open title, but his post match performance was the show stealer this time, he cried like a child and I am sure the world must have cried with the champion.

After a sublime forth set, something wrong did happen. The great man's elegant timing was less certain, his ground strokes were less pure, his first serve was far harder to find, and his presence was flat and hackneyed. Most noticeable of all was that he went to defeat with just a couple of small disagreements with the umpire, almost without a whimper. "It's all a blur right now". It seemed like the champ had given up and hence the result: a 6-2 defeat in the fifth set and a lost final.

The man who at one point of time seemed invincible and had a dream run of winning around 50 matches most of them without even losing a set, is defeated from Rafa for the fifth time. After ruling the ATP rankings for a record 237 weeks, Federer lost the numero uno position in Aug 2008 after getting defeated in Wimbledon 08, which he hoped to win for the 6th consecutive time. There came the point of inflection I guess, because after that Federer, the emperor had a number of defeats most notably the first round defeat in three sets by Giles Simon in Canadian Masters in Toronto and third round defeat by the Croatian Ivo Karlovic at the Cincinnati Masters.
The point to ponder over now is what went wrong. Federer no doubt is one of the best players of tennis the world has ever seen, his strong forehands, virtually flawless backhands and ability to handle speed as well as dexterity with the volleys is undoubtedly unmatchable. Above all, he is a great human being and his ability in not showing any emotions and staying away from the controversies has made him the favorite across the world. But I guess his dream run of not getting defeated in a single match has created a monster: a monster of expectations which puts constant pressure on him to perform in every single stroke he plays, every single set he wins. So the man, who does not have any vulnerabilities technically created one himself. So any opponent with a strong mind set and who is not afraid of the Juggernaut Federer would be able to defeat him if he can exert pressure from the starting, as Nadal always does.

So, the ultimate question that stands at this point of time is “is it the end of the Federer Legacy”. Well I think the answer is an optimistic “No”. the defeats have definitely made him stronger and the champion will definitely re-invent himself and come out with a vengeance next time, am sure next Grand slam, the win will be his. Finally I would like to end this by quoting Oasis song Chumbawamba which says “I got knocked down, but I get up again n u r never gonna hit me down”.