From Stage Two to Stage Three, from Hardcourt to Clay, from ... to ... "Its Time to Move On"!

Of the all brand new Advertisements that’ve been flashing on the idiot box off late, the one featuring India’s poster boy MSD and his ‘Aur Bolo’ campaign with Aircel, comes across as the best! Such a simple Ad that and yet it leaves an impression of sorts. Another line fitted in that commercial should possibly leave an impression on another sportsman in another part of the world. “The Mighty Federer” as celebrated tennis journalist Peter Bodo likes to address him as (and let us all shorten it to TMF) should watch that commercial and the lines at the end must ideally tell him a thing or two about his next move; next move mentally i.e. Enough’s been said about his 5 straight losses to Rafa, enough’s been said about how Murray too is beginning to own him now. He’s 27 and will be 28 by the time he steps out on Wimbledon 3 months down the line. He’s about to become a father now and not many ‘fathers’ have gone on to win Slams [Heck, people have managed to even bring negatives around his impending ‘fatherhood’]. And yes, he’s finally done something on court that would have done Marat Safin proud! And so? If you were to listen to what people are saying, this “Once-upon-a-time-TMF” should quit playing the game. [And, do what? Commentary??]

Thankfully, for people whose memory aint that bad and who know a thing or two about the various stages that a modern-day athlete goes through, this phase in the life of TMF hasn’t come across as a complete surprise. As Bodo himself famously keeps saying, there are three main stages in the life of a successful tennis star and Federer quite clearly is in that ‘third’ stage now! Wherein he’ll trip and fall a bit more than usual but somehow manage to do well in the Slams; it’s the Slams wherein he’ll want to concentrate the most. Its basically a stage wherein the motivation levels of a superstar to do well in any other event than the Slams would be very low, it’s a stage wherein he’ll constantly have to thwart off competition from the young brigade, wherein he’ll lose more often than what he’s used to, and in the bargain, give his supporters lot many heart-breaks than what they’re accustomed to! Bjorn Borg gave up once he realized he was about to enter Stage three, Pete Sampras did a fine job at bringing that Stage three to a glorious end. Now its upto the 27 year old, 13-Slam Champ to show the world that he’s got some fuel left in the tank. It’s the end of Stage 2 [The stage wherein one ‘dominates’ and wins trophies left, right and centre] for him and as those final lines of that Aircel commercial says, “Its time to move on!”

Its time to move on, allright and its time to switch focus from hardcourts to the dirt of clay. Federer who was originally to not compete at the Monte Carlo Masters has now decided to accept a wild card and will now be seen there. Federer fans are obviously delighted to see him there, they just cant have enough of their man and needless to say, would ideally want him to win even now, everything; right from Slams to Masters to even those 500 pointers! I though, had my own reservations about him agreeing to participate here. His decision seems to have been made out of fear that if he were to not play here, he’d lost a bag full of points which would have threatened his no. 2 position [to Murray and possibly Nole as well]. Those fears are for real, no doubt! But then, should he now be concentrating so much on rankings? Shouldn’t Slams and the ideal preparation for them be his no. 1 aim and priority? Well, it is atleast in my opinion but then that’s because methinks he’s well and truly in Stage 3. If TMF thinks otherwise, then he’s got every right to play as much as possible and….well, basically give himself the best possible chance to win as much as many tournaments as he can and perhaps even have a go at capturing the no. 1 spot again.

However, my reasons for having reservations on him participating at Monte Carlo has got less to do with him being in Stage two or three but has got more to do with thinking whether tactically he could do something better. Lets cut to a story now, one that’ll hopefully give all the readers on why I think TMF may [Lemme repeat that it’s a big ‘MAY’ and not ‘SURELY HAS’] have made a mistake in agreeing to play at the 3rd Masters Series of the year.

During my Engineering days, we used to have this annual Table Tennis championship and for each of the 1st three years, I and this player made it to the final. We used to practice anyway all year long. Knew each other's game inside out. And then ofcourse had this big goal, to be achieved at the end of the year!

I used to lose to him more often than not. Its like, used to win atmost 6 games out of 20. Twas that bad. I remember the 3rd final so vividly. Was absolutely aghast on losing for a 3rd year in a row! Which is when I decided. Allrite, this aint no Wimbledon I know, but I HAVE to win this atleast once. More than anything else, dont want to be remembered all my life as a 'LOSING finalist'. Heck, I used to win 6 on 20. Twasnt as if I used to lose 19 on 20 .I mean, I could pull off in atleast one final out of 4! Which is when I decided, I'll stop practicing with this guy! People felt strange when I used to always find excuses to not play him. Started practicing at my home with people I knew I could rag across the net, literally!


The one and the only reason behind all this, was:

I used to constantly find myself getting negative during those finals. THOUGHTS THAT THIS WAS THE SAME GUY WHO'S BEEN DEFEATING ME SO CONSISTENTLY OVER THE PAST 10 DAYS [Remember, we used to practice daily] always used to find a way into my brain. I so wanted to get rid of those thoughts but it never used to happen.

Which is why, I then, [at the cost of letting people say, this was defensive thinking] thought; Lets not practice with him. LETS MEET HIM DIRECTLY in the final, with absolutely NO PAST BAGGAGE!

Yes, some might say, just thoughts would still have entered anyway. Thoughts like, here's the same guy who's been defeating me for the past three years. Fair enough! But in my case, I was convinced that I'll feel much better if I were to not face him in the warm-ups. It was imperative for me to know, that:

He may have owned me in the past but its been a while since we've met. This is a brand new season and this is "OUR 1ST MEETING in this brand new season". No baggage, no recent past. Lets go, in for the KILL!
As I said, I was convinced that it would work. It’s a different thing altogether that I could never really prove that my thinking was right, atleast for me. My friend lost in the Q/Fs that year and I ended up winning. [Felt sad needless to say, as I knew that I hadnt won it by defeating the best player]

Long story short. This was my reason for stating that I wanted him to play atmost only one tournament and then head off straight to Paris. Yes, defensive I'm convinced people might say, some might even say, this is outright negative/foolish thinking. But, methinks for a player who's had as traumatic a time as RF's had against Rafa on clay, (especially after their last meeting at Paris last year), its important for RF to 1st feel fine, mentally. Other things, such as tactical play and on-court strategy can follow then.

Ofcourse, he could not just feel fine, but great, by defeating Rafa in the finals of MC, Roma, Madrid and Paris, all of them! Heck, yeah! But the odds on it are few I feel. And hence, my best gamble would be to see a FRESH Roger Federer square up against the Bull, for one and only one time. In the finals of Paris. I'm absolutely sure that RF still is the 2nd best player on clay and can get there [to the finals of Paris] without much/any practice.

As he's stated himself in a recent interview, Clay has never been a problem. He's grown up on that surface infact. Its Rafa on Clay, thats been his headache!