Is Roger Federer finished?
Just thought I'd start the morning with a little joke. Actually, there's no real reason to dwell on Roger Federer's startling loss of control of his match with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga yesterday, and here's what I find most compelling (or maybe it's the only thing I find compelling) about that collapse: Had it happened exactly one year ago, everyone would be second-guessing and armchair psycho-analyzing Federer in terms of the pressure he's feeling as he drives toward the Grand Slam singles title record, the state of his back, the delayed reactions to glandular fever, etc. etc.It would just be a matter of analyzing from a critical or a sympathetic perspective.
But, you see, it's not 2008; it's 2009 and Federer has 15 Grand Slam titles and two other unrelated sources of joy. Make it three, if you want to count Mirka, beneath whose cosmopolitan exterior beats the heart of an earth-mother; you could tell that from the start, because you don't become the keeper at the gate as thoroughly as she's done if you didn't start out, first and foremost, fiercely loyal to your man, or woman. And the earth mother was first and foremost a nurturer and protector.
Anyway. This is 2009, and what happened to Federer last night was just one of those things that happens to all tennis players, a few times in their careers. Let's not forget, it's not like Federer has blown a 5-1 final-set lead nine different times in Masters or Grand Slams events. . . Are the rest of you also inclined to look at this result, shrug your shoulders, and say, "Hey, Tsongas happen." But all this is also enough to convince you that context matters; had this collapse occurred at another time and place, we would undoubtedly be assigning far different and equally undemonstrable reasons for it. I don't want to think how much time we send spinning our mental wheels about this stuff, although the hum of those tires is pleasant enough.
One thing I'm sure about: Roger Federer is not sitting in his hotel room, a baby in each lap, wondering: What happened to my game? One thing I'm not sure about: When does Federer start to feel like a man who's just consumed a fantastic meal, the best part of which may be this feeling of utter contentment and satisfaction, which is very different from the next best part, in which you glory in the taste of the food in the most visceral, physical of ways. My own feeling is that we're watching Federer's post-record victory lap; the guy is walking on air, and embarking on a new phase of his life in more ways than one. Will that liberate him to play completely anxiety-free and deadly tennis, or blunt his willingness to scratch and kick and claw out matches that aren't exactly gimmes. This one wasn't one of those dogfights, either. This was just a one-off oddity.
Beyond that, Andy Roddick's upset of Novak Djokovic was a more telling result, and when you tally up yesterday's results the overall message is that this is an exciting period in men's tennis - enough circumstances - Roddick's resurgence, Rafael Nadal's physical condition, Federer's mental condition, Andy Murray's continuing maturity, and even Tsonga's consistent demonstration that he's a threat to anyone he plays, any time he hefts a racquet - have combined to create a kind of tableau of predictable unpredictability - the best state of all for tennis.Enjoy today's matches*
*
--- Pete
As at 11:20pm, an Overflow post is up - Andrew