Wednesday, June 10, 2009

The Mental Strength of a Champion

Somehow having snuck past security, the lunatic in a red get-up gathered himself on a court side seat, leapt over the divider onto the court and made a break for Roger. Startled out of his returner's position, Federer took a step back and tried to wave the guy off. The idiot would not be denied though, and tried to force a cap onto Federer's head before getting chased around and eventually flattened by security. The YouTube videos of this incident are getting taken down left and right, but this one currently exists (no embedding possible): watch video here. Roger committed a string of errors to lose that game, but regrouped quickly and went on to defeat Robin Soderling 6-1, 7-6(1), 6-4 and win his first Roland Garros title.

Emblematic of that final, Roger's greatest adversities seemed to come off-court rather than the opponents he faced on-court. First Novak Djokovic bowed out. Then came the surprise of the tournament, with Soderling taking out Rafael Nadal, followed by Andy Murray falling to Fernando Gonzalez. All of a sudden Federer was installed as an overwhelming favorite to win the only major title that eluded him, and he was playing far below his best. In his match against Tommy Haas the pressure appeared to be too much; Federer dropped the first two sets and was five measly points from losing before roaring back to win in 5. The pressure to win, and win now, felt enormous. Who knew if Federer would ever get a shot at a title match again, nevermind a shot without having to face Nadal? As Federer mentioned in his press conference:
When I walk on the streets or drive in the transportation or I go for dinner, everybody is like, This is your year. You've got to do it.

They're screaming from their scooters and out of the car. They even get out at the red lights and want me to sign an autograph or take a picture. It's quite incredible this last couple of weeks.

Obviously, Roger felt a lot of support from the French crowd. I don't know about you, but when someone tells me I _have_ to do something, or they're expecting me to pull through, I feel more pressure. Right before I turned 16 and got my driver's license, my sister or mom was talking about how crazy a driver I would be, and it was only a matter of time until I had an accident. My dad cut in though, and said "No, Jesse'll be a good driver." That set me on edge; now I had an expectation I had to live up to, rather than one I could prove wrong. If you ever want to motivate me just tell me I can't do something - I'll be working on it immediately.

So to me, the way Roger handled the pressure and emerged a champion is even more impressive. If you've followed Peter Bodo's blog he's given Federer some grief in the past for not having a Warrior Badge Moment, a la Sampras serving his way through tears against Courier in the Australian Open, or Michael Chang fighting off cramps and defeating Lendl at the French. I'm stepping into Pete's office temporarily, ripping a WMB off his desk, and pinning it on Roger for that inside-out forehand winner he hit against Haas on break point, down 2 sets to love. And credit to McEnroe, who immediately pointed out the significance of that shot should he go on to win the tournament. With this victory Roger becomes only the 6th man to complete a career Grand Slam (winning all 4 of tennis' major titles), and ties Pete Sampras for the lead with 14 Slams. In the wake of these achievements many have already weighed in, proclaiming Roger the Greatest of All Time, including the likes of Sampras and Rod Laver.

Speaking of McEnroe, a big thumbs up to the Tennis Channel (I refuse to call it just Tennis Channel) for their gigantic improvement. I've criticized them in the past, but their coverage of Roland Garros was on par or even better than ESPN's, and they shelled out for some serious talent in the booth and in the production trailer. Really, a job Well Done.

The first few days of post-Roland Garros has seen the tennis landscape change dramatically. Federer and Nadal have now split the last 4 Grand Slams, and with news of Nadal's knee tendinitis and his Wimbledon participation in jeopardy, Roger has to be considered the favorite. Things are getting really interesting as we race toward the Super Bowl of tennis; Wimbledon, starting up in London on June 22. See you there.

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