Preview: Men's Final, Wimbledon 2009

Things happen and how! For 237 weeks, a man looked invincible, sitting comfortably atop the rankings and winning almost everything on the tour. That was until his dream of winning the French Open was shattered once again, and shattered in some way at that! His most humiliating defeat alongwith his ‘mono’ problem seemed to have shaken the man so badly that a month later, his pet ‘Wimbledon’ crown too escaped from his grasp. Slowly but surely, one could see the earth shaking and we finally had the earthquake on 18th of August last year; Rafael Nadal had finally displaced Roger Federer as the new no. 1. And for the next nine months or so, it seemed that we had a real worthy no. 1, who much like his predecessor was winning virtually everything in front of him. But then, like it happened with the former champion, a physical problem [knees, in this case] and the loss of his ‘pet’ French crown showed, more than anything else, how difficult it is to keep winning day in, and day out. Rafa’s problems have actually gone on to project how peerless a player Federer has been. An opportunity would present itself tonight for him to do the double whammy, win his 15th major and get back on the top of the ranking charts. Surely, this has to be one of the more important Wimbledon final of the recent past, from a pure ‘historical’ point of view and for other reasons as well. Old foes, Roger Federer squaring off against American Andy Roddick, himself a 2-time finalist here.

On the face of it, it looks like an ‘open and shut case’ really. A person who’s won a mere 2 matches out of 20 shouldn’t even be talked about, but that’s ofcourse assuming your name is not Andy Roddick. Any one who knows even a bit about his character and who’s especially seen the way he’s played over the past 18 months or so [ever since he parted ways with Jimmy Connors as his coach] will admit that there seems to be a purpose in the way he plays. No wonder then, that he registered his one of only two wins over Federer during this 18 month period. His wins over Hewitt and then Murray in the semi-final was awe-inspiring to put it mildly and that must give him some confidence atleast. But you have to admire the man for something else as well, and that’s his ‘attitude’. For a man who’s got such a terrible record against an opponent, the manner in which he seems to fight on the court is, well, admirable! You see any of his matches against the Swiss Maestro and you never, “never” get the feeling that he’s thrown in the towel. A lot of their matches have been very closely fought but the fact that Federer almost always seems to have found his number have tended to make people lose respect for the American. No wonder then Roddick thinks that people ought to remember that he too, ‘can play some tennis sometimes’. And it’s because of that attitude of his that Federer needs to be wary of his rival. There’s every chance that Federer could win his no. 15 in no time, it could end up being a real one-sided contest as well but to expect Roddick to get intimidated, or feel the pressure, or feel the nerves on seeing someone who literally ‘owns’ him would be foolhardy. Roddick, much like Hewitt, is one of the greatest competitors on the circuit. Anyone who’s remained in the top 10 for well over six years now can’t be any less than that and he will feel good about himself. Expect the man to fancy his chances, given the kind of form he is in.

And yet, for 99.9999% of the public, Federer will remain the obnoxiously overwhelming favourite, myself included. Roddick will feel good about his chances but Federer might just feel better. His quarter-final encounter against Ivo Karlovic went on to show the kind of form he’s in; a man who was never broken in any of his matches before in the tournament was broken in just the 4th game of the match. That, and the return of his ‘extremely effective’ serve, amongst a host of other reasons, puts him as the big favourite. As Tommy Haas puts it, the man’s got no weaknesses really and so it becomes a futile exercise really to even talk about the ‘host of other reasons’. But what stands out most about Federer and one could sense this from the beginning of the Madrid Masters, is that physically he seems to 100%. Mono seems to be a thing of the past and his back is just about perfect as well, far from what his fans got to see at the Shanghai Masters last season. And then ofcourse, its his living room, the Center Court at SW19. A chance to win the one title that he treasures the most and then as stated earlier, a chance to get on top of the rankings as well. He’s a human however [his opponents over the years may disagree with this though] and some amount of nerves and pressure may be felt but Federer has been a champion at handling those over the years. Even if Sampras himself would be there to watch the final, you’d expect the latest 14-Slam champion to have entered unchartered territory by Sunday night .

Yes, A.Rod’s a fine competitor. We weren’t trying to be diplomatic while talking about his chances for the final, we weren’t “trying” to give him respect that he’s not worthy of, we aren’t even being hypocritical while showering accolades on him and then saying its Federer, after all, who’s the top dog to win the title. Far from all that, in case any of the readers were thinking on those lines. Its just that, we’re living in times where the men’s tour is full of good to very good to some great players as well. But then it also happens to have one ‘superhuman’ who ends up making most look ordinary. A pity for some, a real joy and privilege for most fans though.

After the final of 2005, when Roddick was asked, how his mood was and whether he’d want to talk about the match, his reply was quick as usual. “I’m more in the mood to have some beer” he quipped. Chances are high that, he’d want to say something similar post the final of 2009.

Federer, in straight, for me.