state of the conFEDERERacy

Watching this past Wimbledon was one of the most exhilarating (and excruciating) sports championships I’ve watched in while. I will admit, I love Roger Federer so you can imagine how rough these last two tennis championships have been for me. After that straight beat-down Nadal put on Federer in the French Open, I thought Roger would come out, “en diable” as we Francophones say; but no. That match started as though Nadal was the one with the chip on his shoulder.

Federer had not dropped the first set at Wimbledon since 2004, but not only did he drop the first set on Sunday, he choked away the second (in fact, choke might be an understatement), it might be more appropriate to say that he regurgitated the second set, snatched defeat in that set from the jaws of victory. Federer did not look like at all like himself throughout most of that match. I believe he committed over 50 unforced errors, yeah 50+. This leads me to believe that Nadal is officially in Federer’s head. Even after the domination in the French, at least you could say that Federer has never beaten Nadal on clay, but after everybody and their mother picking Nadal in the Wimbledon Final, and then it actually happening with Federer making all those errors at key junctures really makes me wonder about Federer’s state of mind against Nadal. Rumor has it that Federer is supremely confident to the point of bordering arrogance, which is understandable when you’re about 12 Grand Slams deep and nobody in the last half decade has put their name on that trophy from the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club’s trophy. But, a 6-11 (or is it 6-12) record against Nadal has got to make Roger begin to wonder, “What’s really goin’ on?”

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Federer is washed up, by any stretch, as a good friend (and hopefully future associate) of mine pointed out, Federer hasn’t missed a Grand Slam final in lord knows how long…and let’s not forget that he has been without a coach since 2003. I understand that, but I feel as though these losses Federer takes to Nadal are not really anything that can be attributed to strategy or fundamentals. The one thing you will notice if you have really been watching Federer vs. Nadal and Federer vs. Everyone Else, is that Nadal = Everyone Else +1. What I mean by that is that winners that Federer hits against everyone else, Nadal regularly gets to, and I don’t think Feder is used to it. This means that Federer is oft caught looking by some of the returns that Nadal sends back across the net. The reasons I think (“hope” is probably more accurate) Federer will eventually work this little, Capri-wearing, Mallorcan kink out are twofold; 1) Nobody makes the sport look easier than Federer, so maybe it stands to reason that maybe he hasn’t maxed out yet, and once we see him look like he’s physically exerting himself, we’ll REALLY be in awe of what he can do, b). He is so close to Samprass all time mark, that I think pure desire will be enough to get him over.

Regardless of whichever way this saga ends, we can all rest assured that we are probably watching the best that ever did it, and the way these two push each other is great for the sport of tennis; like Magic & Bird for the NBA, and Ali & Frazier for heavyweight boxing.