So let's talk about Big Daddy-to-be Roger Federer. My gut reaction to the news we all had yesterday is: Roger needs more complications now like he needs a hole in the head. On the other hand, some complications are better than others, and some are positively life - and career - enhancing. So maybe shopping for just the right stroller will be a distraction of the best kind (the Quinny Buzz 3 may be all the rage for well-heeled yuppies with a price tag of 700 bucks, but we all know that Roger likes the classics, so I'm betting they go with theInglesia Classica).
I'm only half-joking here, folks. Tennis players are more averse to change, especially any kind of interruption of routine, than most people. But over the years I've seen plenty of players abandon the Me First way of life in favor of the Us First way, and its almost always been a good thing. Sometimes, it's been a career refresher. In this case, it may be an especially good thing because the baby isn't due for months, which means that apart from having to massage Mirka's swollen feet and run out to get her the odd mango or jar of almond butter to satisfy the typical craving of a pregnant woman, it will be the baby-carrier herself dealing with the demands and physiological effects of pregnancy. Roger gets to bat around the tennis ball, than return home to sit back and bask in the glow of a change in his life that will be no less profound than it is common.
In other words, relax now, Federer fans, but start sweating bullets when the US Open rolls around and Roger is up at 3 am, bouncing little Nike (if it's a girl) on his shoulder to make him cease crying.
There's a kind of serenity that descends on parents-to-be when they realize what they've gotten themselves into, and while Federer is a pretty mellow and relaxed guy, this calm expectancy that has nothing to do with holding up the Wimbledon champion's trophy or spanking Nikolay Davydenko in the semis could do him good. It also introduces a sweet thread to the current, fairly contentious narrative. Rafael Nadal may haunt his dreams, his back may be sore (oh yeah, what about Mirka's? Men are such pigs!) and Darren Cahill may have left him at the altar, but nobody said you had to be married to have a kid. Just ask Mirka.
In any event, this blessing may provide a nice counterpoint to the relentless questions of the armchair quarterbacks, and even media assassins will now be just as likely, out of pure human decency (or some reasonable facsimile thereof, these being, after all, media people - present company included) to quiz him about whether he wants a boy or a girl (Like almost all men, he will answer "It makes no difference to me", which is man-code for "Oh God, please let it be a boy!") as just how he's going to deal with that that high-bouncing serve to the backhand. The news will also generate enormous sympathy, if that's the right word, out in fanland. You've got to be a pretty hard case, or maybe Bill Simmons, not to want the best for a tennis player who's chugging along toward parenthood.
The problem, if that the right word, is that even tough guys tend to go a little Jell-O when they're about to have a kid (in some cases, the spine has been known to grow back shortly after the Missus has her tubes tied), and at some point in a dogfight with a free-ranging stud like Novak Djokovic, or Andy Murray, Federer might look up at the scoreboard, and instead of seeing 6-7, 7-5, 5-5, 30-40 he'll magically see some variation of the phrase: Who the hail needs this crap, I'm going to be a father!
Significantly, even if you do trend toward the cold-hearted, a pregnancy is one of the few things you can't just slough off on some aide de camp or courtier. What's Roger going to do, turn to Tony Godsick and say, "Tony, Mirka's being a little needy, go hang out with her for a little while - we just got Marley and Me on DVD. . ." Now that I think of it, though, given what we know about Roger (Im not the only one who's seen him cry), it might be Mirka saying, Tony, Roger's being a little needy. . . etc. etc. It works that way in some cases. Fatherhood brings men to their knees, which most women will tell you is where they belong anyway. Unfortunately, sometimes bearing their child is the only reliable way for a women to get them there.
While I can't say exactly to what degree Federer is obsessed with "figuring out" Nadal, or the hunt for the Grand Slam singles title, this change in his life and order of priorities could have a liberating influence. First of all, this may provide what may be a well-needed shift away from the familiar Federer priorities, and getting all twisted up and lost in them. Second, one of the first things that goes when you're up to your eyeballs in ambition and career is your sense of perspective. Few things restore perspective like the landmark events of life - the loss of a dear friend, an encounter with a person whom you know, deep, down is far better than you (in certain cases that wouldn't take much, but such people never recognize such encounters), a birth. . .
So best wishes to Roger and Mirka. Let's hope this has the commonly felt, positive effect on them, and on Roger's tennis. Although in this case it's not about the tennis. And maybe that's the best thing of all.
