2005. A lazy Sunday afternoon in Switzerland. Though my motto in Weekend life was 'it is a CRIME' to stay indoors when Sun shines bright and hot' (which is actually a measly three/four months in a year!), that particular day I committed that very crime, for no obvious reasons that I could remember, but WHAT A REWARD I got!!!!
Post lunch, flipped on the telly and jay walked thru the channels only to be stopped by somebody dancing. Though never a dance lover, I sat up because the one who was dancing was just floating around, elegant, graceful, no strains at all and... not a female...and... He was doing all this while holding a tennis racket in His slender right arm!!!
Till that point in my life, cricket was the apple of my sporting eye with idols like Richards, Windies space quartet of the 80s ('fire in banylon' summed them fabulously years later), Gavaskar, Vengsarkar, Kapil, Sachin, Dravid et al.
They all disappeared from my personal pedestal like 9 pins and a pair of dancing shoes stepped on it just that very moment; only I didn't realise it then. It was July 2005, Wimbledon Finals, the first ever tennis match I watched in TV.
Soon, I started following every little dance movement he made in the far flung corners of the world with the attention one normally gives to religion.
I became a regular in front of my telly and the more I watched, the more 'joy' I experienced; whether his dances ended in wins or not...
He was winning almost all matches he played then, anyway!
Within an year, without even realising, I became a hardcore fan bordering on fanaticism, lapping up every bit of news that did the rounds in internet and 'flame throwing' on anybody who even remotely seemed to disagree with me on the greatness of Him, as if he was a religion and I was a torch bearer :-)
Many such heated arguments later, in one such normal day at work after an euphoric Sunday watching 'dancing feet', I started browsing new news during a well deserved coffee break and stumbled upon a NY Times article written by David Foster Wallace, titled 'Roger Federer as Religious experience'!
'OMG, every word written here is as if from my own experience! The eye popping moments, primordial roars that made my wife to run in and check whether I had gone mad...'!
It was spot on. I printed that article, took copies and hand-delivered to the counter punchers in my 'fight club' and also kept mailing that article to acquaintances and strangers (in my office) alike, not once but multiple times!!!
Soon, friends trickled in to join my TV sessions and we began to plan our year long activities around his matches! (AO - plan to work from early morning, watch till the last shot he hit. French and Wimbledon - Plan lunch meetings only in restaurants that had TV that showed 'live'. These two were the most comfy Slams to watch while working in Swiss. Come US Open - a bleary eyed bunch of us would huddle in front of TV in one of our houses with prestocked nourishments... and so on!
The unstoppable force of nature, often hailed a an extra terrestrial being in the media, was unexpectedly brought down by a tiny tiny 'player'. No, not the one you think, not the one who ripped his Tee after a marathon AO final in 2011; I am talking about 2008. Dancing feet, soaring high for quite a while, were brought to a standstill in a span of just six months by mononucleosis, an energy sapping illness that 'ended' the careers of budding talents (Super Mario! Remember?!), slowed Him down but only ever so lightly, still enough for the chasing pack to step up and snatch the matches. I consider 2008 as the greatest year in the history of Sports, not because of THE Wimbledon Final but BECAUSE of it!. Here is a guy with Mono, refusing to leave the arena without a fight, a bruising five setter (won) followed by another (lost) in AO, though a brutal annihilation in French Open Final by His Nemesis (dancing feet managed to get a measly four, just FOUR games in the most one sided finals in their rivalry), what followed was 'One for the Ages' helter skelter affair at Wimbledon. Boris Boom Boom chewed ALL his nails, Mats 'scathing' Wilander rediscovered that dancing feet had '*****' the size of Big Onions, the icy cool Swede Bjon Borg was tension personified, time standing still, collective, growing incredulity around the world as the dancing feet and matador were locked horns till darkness did them apart, the one match where everybody felt a winner...all through this, there was not even a hint of an excuse on Mono... Those of us who are fortunate to live in His times often forget the greatness of His efforts in 2008 a decade later only because... he is still climbing those slopes and standing atop at the tallest peaks of our Sports world!
One shot, just One shot is engraved in my mind as an ode to his great fighting spirit; 30-40 down in 5th set on Championship point in near darkness, a rasping backhand return, a screaming blinder hit with all the raging fire inside, even the matador could only watch it zip by.
For the first ever time, obituaries began to appear in the media, 'great guy but...'.
Most didn't know that he actually played the biggest of His Slams with a single opponent, not just for one round but for seven full months that year; and won the battle against Mononucleosis. He never blamed it though, silently suffering... and enduring.
He got the the spring back in his feet late summer that year and resumed doing what He does (still 'present tense'!) best, by winning the US Open.
Stung by the 'bench mark so high', the chasing pack reinvented their games and started winning more, against dancing feet. Still, in 2009, He came very vary close to winning a Calendar Slam, the gap was just TWO SETS!; He lost AO in 5 sets (one set deficit) and US open in 5 sets (one set deficit); he won the other two by the way! He won the FRENCH!
Many pundits of this sport still read / write 2009 French Open finals result with an asterisk to denote that it happened only because the guy who owned (still owns!) the Terra Bute of Roland Garros went out for a stroll. Actually,
this stretch starting from 2008 January till 2009 September will be hailed as the 'Breakthrough Years' in human sports if the experts of this game get over their love-hate flip-flops of the last two decades and give their rational minds some quiet time with even a layman's understanding of the devastating effects of Mono. Tell ya, if 2017-18 are miracle years, 2008-09 were a cut way above!
As He evolved from a multi slam winner into an adorable human being with a superb value system and work ethics, I too evolved, from a fanatic to a treasure hunter; treasuring the magic He weaved whenever He stepped on a court, competitive or charity not mattered anymore, outcome of the matches didn't matter too. I started enjoying the journey, His Journey.
His legend and fan base was ever growing and he became a global icon. Back in his home town though, he was (and is!) still 'just a tennis player' who excelled in his craft. Sample this; Post 2009 historic French Open, He went to a lakeside restaurant in his home Canton (akin to a district) with His friends only to be denied a table because the restaurant was full ! The restaurant owner apparently told him that he might accommodate Him if He could come back an hour later. 'No problem', said the Icon and returned later to have His lunch, no arguments, no 'Are u kidding me?' scenes. That is the way He still seems to be!
So much happened in the last decade in Tennis world but He is still the LAST man standing. Tomorrow, he will be the FIRST man standing, again!
Salute you, Roger! Keep dancing; may the spirits be with you forever!
P.S: Even today, whenever He wins another Slam, congratulatory messages from my friends start pouring in; to Me!!!
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