One More Slam. Again.

        It was the summer of 2008. The tennis fraternity watched in awe as a 22 year old boy named Rafael Nadal, who had already established himself as the ‘King of Clay’, led five time defending champion Roger Federer by two sets to love on the lawns of the All England Club. But Federer is no pushover, especially on grass. He came back roaring, taking the next two sets, the second one with the best passing shot I have ever witnessed. I was glued to my television screen, completely engrossed in the amazing spectacle. Never before had I been so engulfed by anything on the television.
        But things had not been like this a couple of years ago. I come from the land of cricket, where the Sachins, the Sauravs, the Dravids are worshipped and people are completely oblivious to other sports. I had been lucky to have some exposure to Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf and the Williams sisters. But my enthusiasm for Tennis shot up only after I hit my first ball on a tennis court in 2004. It was a time when people in India had started taking interest in this new game, partly because of the emergence of Sania Mirza on the big stage and partly because of this guy named Roger Federer who had raised the level of his game to unprecedented heights, way above everyone else. It seemed that no one could ever challenge the authority of Federer.
        But it was about to change in this epic Gentlemen’s Singles Final of Wimbledon 2008. An anarchist Nadal was determined to dismantle the established order. And after almost 5 hours, the coup was successful and Federer had finally been dethroned at Wimbledon after 5 years. This match changed tennis forever. It domiciliated ‘Fedal’ among the greatest rivalries in the sport. It was not just their tennis that made them great but also the way they conducted themselves on the battlefield.
        They became role models, inspirations for a whole generation. They were humble in victory and gracious in defeat. They taught me what sportsmanship was. In the Tennis World of boys like Safin, Hewitt, Roddick; these two stood out as the ‘gentlemen’. It came to a level where in a study, it was revealed that Federer was the second most respected and trusted man in the World after Nelson Mandela. But greatness comes at a price – you have to prove time and again that you are not one of the ‘others’.
        Come 2011 and things started changing. Federer failed to win a Grand Slam in a year for the first time in almost a decade. It signalled the end of an era. A new dominator had emerged on the scene – Novak Djokovic. He won three Grand Slams that year, completely sidelining ‘Fedal’, especially Federer. People started contemplating, with all pessimism they could gather, whether Federer will ever win a Grand Slam again. And when Nadal had another big injury in 2012, they said the same of him too.

        But they came back in a dogged manner, Federer winning Wimbledon once again in 2012 and Nadal winning two Slams in 2013. The cycle of lows and highs continued for the next 3 years until in 2016, for the first time in his career, Federer ended his season midway due to injury. Nadal too, had to take a three month break from the game due to injury. I had always believed that they could come back. They had always shown me how to fight back from adversities. They had always come back higher, the lower they were thrown. But this time, the clouds of doubt had cast a shadow on my belief. It seemed impossible that they could play at the top level again.
        And impossible is what they did right after being back from the hiatus. They split the four Grand Slams on 2017, finishing the year as the top two players in the World. They are still continuing the same trend in 2018. Nobody can now dare to write them off. Charlie Eccelshare, a journalist from The Telegraph, published an emotional article titled, “Dear Roger Federer: An apology for ever writing you off” after he had written “Why Roger Federer will never win another Grand Slam” in 2016. Such has been the respect that Federer and Nadal have earned in the last two years. The people who had criticized them forever have started warming up towards them.

        There are some who still think Nadal cannot win big titles outside clay and Federer is getting old and won’t be able to win a Slam again. And I know that the day when both would have retired is not far. But I also know that they will prove the doubters wrong one more time. One more Slam. One more year.
Vamos Rafa! Allez Roger!