On 5th July, 2009, Roger Federer made history and became the player to win most Grand Slams after capturing his 6th Wimbledon title in 7 years. After last year’s epic match where he was defeated by a determined Rafael Nadal, Federer finally made it back to the top at his expense and at, sadly, Andy Roddick’s.
“Like I said, it’s been a crazy year”, he said during the interview after his win. Yes, it has. Lost the Australian Open to Nadal. Got married and is almost a father. Beat Nadal on clay in Madrid, which in itself is an amazing effort after ending Nadal’s record streak on clay. Won the French Open and made history by equaling Sampras’ record of 14 titles and became the 6th person to win all 4 majors. Won Wimbledon and created history. And the year has not ended yet.
But today’s win was one of the few matches he did not deserve to win and the only final I would guess. Andy Roddick was surprisingly good and he gave a wonderful fight. Federer played below par but still was up to the task of winning the title. If it were Nadal at the other end, it would have been a different Federer all together. But in recent times he has shown a little disrespect to his fellow players. Waving off Tommy Haas even before the ball had dropped is one of the instances. We all know Federer is a great player, and he is truly deserving of a place in the best of the best. But that does not mean he has to thrash every person he plays against. In the interview after the match he tried to console Roddick by saying he had lost last year and he knows how it feels, to which Roddick replied, with visible anger, that Federer had won 5 times before that.
One thing was sure from the match that Federer did not expect Roddick to put up a fight, and neither did anyone else. But the character and improvement in play that Roddick showed was phenomenal. He did have a chance to close the match at 15-40 and get a break to serve for the match. But there temperament played the crucial role as Federer served with class and won the game. Roddick has come a long way, and he was an undeserving loser today. It pained me to see Federer win a game and make history by playing badly. There were some great statistics for Federer, like the 50+ aces he hit. And so at the time when it needed to count, he made the right call and got the result.
All I want to see from Federer is the acknowledgement of his opponents and showing them some respect. A true champion shows that trait and he needs to be a complete champion.
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