Reinventing oneself

Everyone, including his most loyal fans – myself included – thought that his era had gone.

The same way that Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and all other players who dominated the tennis game, but had to bow out when faster, stronger players emerged.

Even the great Martina Navratilova had to bid adieu when new players with exaggerated western grips and two-handed backhands came to the fore.

But he kept hanging on. Contented with the No. 3 ranking after having enjoyed No. 1 for a long time. Then the improbable happened.

At the 2012 All-England Championships—also known as Wimbledon forthright—Roger Federer came through again to win his record tying 7th Championship in a record setting 8th Finals.

Federer shot down Britain’s Andy Murray in four brilliantly played sets and increased his record career grand slams to 17.

If you are keen observer of the game, you know that the win was not a fluke, or even the semi-finals against Djokovic. It was a different game that Federer was playing. He played so many strokes to steal a few minute seconds for his opponents to return the ball or create a wide open court to finish a point. Federer made the half-volley a standard tennis stroke, whilst it is used by most only when caught in no-man’s land. (The area between the baseline and the service line)

He also unleashed his top-spin forehand volley from the back court, the only player who does it consistently. Federer also gave back respectability to the drop shot and the slice backhand. The drop shot stunned the baseline hoggers who routinely run down the fastest balls from cross-court to cross-court.

The slice backhand, which was practically shunned by most top players, has become a regular feature of their repertoire, because Federer has shown that it can be an effected defensive as well as an offensive weapon.

While the Wimbledon was going on, Ivan Lendl pronounced the demise of the serve and volley. Yet, Federer—and Lendl’s ward, Andy Murray—won countless of points by going to the net.

Perhaps, what the great Swede meant was doing the serve and volley all the time, even if the serve is a marshmallow. But doing it selectively, at the right moment, should form part of the arsenal of any professional player who wants to win consistently.

This is probably one other Federer contribution to how tennis is presently played.

When the over-emphasized top spin produced by the exaggerated wrist movement became the fad, the baseliners abandoned the net and lived solely in the baseline. Federer however demonstrated that the traditional player, with improved ground strokes, could still dominate.

Actually, even if I was elated by the Federer win, a Murray victory would have been okay for the sake of the millions of Britons who have been wishing for a British champion for the All-England Championships. He was on the verge. But a vintage Federer stood in the way.

If you were watching the match live, you could feel the love that radiated from  his fans, and the feeling of helplessness and frustration on the side of Murray.

Another immortal sports moment.

Going back to the Federer win, the satisfaction would have been ultimate if the player on the other side of the court were Rafael Nadal. Rafa has been the bone in the throat of Federer for several years now. It would have been sweet and fulfilling for Federer to best Nadal in a Grand Slam.

As it is, the question can still be asked, can the “new” Federer dispose of the Great Spaniard? Well, a grand slam is a grand slam, and it went to one of the greatest and intelligent players who ever played tennis.