When Roger Federer went down in straight sets to eventual champion Marin Cilic in last year’s U.S. Open’s semifinals a couple of days after his stirring rally from two sets down to Gael Monfils, you were sure that was Federer’s last chance to win his sixth championship, weren’t you?
Sure that time finally had caught up to one of pro sports’ most enduring elite athletes.
Sure it has. Because here he is again, the second seed behind Novak Djokovic, weaving an extended spell of inspired tennis that includes a straight-sets victory over Djokovic in the final at Cincinnati two weeks ago and Tuesday’s 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 first-round wipeout of alleged dangerous opponent Leonardo Mayer.
Here is the 34-year-old Federer, the oldest two-seed since 37-year-old Ken Rosewall in 1972, willing to believe that he might be playing the best tennis of a career in which he has won 17 Grand Slam singles titles — 15 between 2003 and 2009, and just two since the 2009 Wimbledon Championships.
“If I win tournament here, yes, maybe,” Federer responded when asked if he might be at a career zenith. “Not if I win a first round, because these rounds are here to just keep progressing, moving forward, doing the right things and giving yourself confidence and getting to understand the conditions.
“Of course I’m very pleased with the first-round performance but not really more than that. I will take it match by match, of course. I’m not thinking too far ahead, as I know some people are.
“I’m just happy that the last, I don’t know, one-and-half years I have been again very, very consistent. I’m playing the right way and that’s, in a way, fun for me. If I decide to have long rallies and stay back I can do that. If I decide to move forward and step it up, I can do that, too.”
It is difficult to conjure a world-class athlete who has held the stage so well for so long without even a smirch on his reputation. He is tennis’ elegant assassin. He is pro sports’ elegant assassin. Seriously, even if Federer isn’t everyone’s favorite, is there anyone in the sports industry who doesn’t respect him and the way he goes about his business?
You walk the grounds here, spy the number of stylized “F” Federer caps on the customers, and there’s no other conclusion to reach except the No. 2 seed is Queens’ favorite son, even if he does carry a Swiss passport.
Thanks
Asit Ghosh
Senior Lecturer, TE
