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July 3, 2005
Jolly Roger is finished article
By Alix Ramsay, Scotsman.com
AS THE rain clouds converged over Wimbledon on Friday evening,
one thing, at least, was clear. Roger Federer was through to the final.
Well, he would be, wouldn't he? Federer owns this place. Centre Court
is his back yard.
This is where it all began but not, as most people think, in 2003
when he cradled the famous trophy in his arms for the first time and
Sue Barker made him cry. It really began in 1998 when Mr R Federer
(Sui) beat Mr I Labadze (Geo) 6-4, 6-4 to win the junior title. They
are very particular about their records round here.
That was the moment when Federer and his family realised that all
the hard work had been worth it. Federer's teenage struggles with both
his talent and his temperament had been resolved, the natural talent
that oozed from every pore had been harnessed and formed into a
championship-winning weapon and, at last, his mother Lynette felt that
he was ready to fly.
"I think a very proud moment is when you realise that all your time
investment is actually bearing fruit," she said. "For me, it was
knowing that Roger can go out there and stand on his own two feet. All
the time that you have invested as a parent, and all the patience and
all the effort, you can say 'ah, he's there and he's doing his own
thing'. After he overcame his teenage ups and downs and everything went
on track, I think the moment when he won Wimbledon juniors was it, you
knew: ah, he's doing the right thing, that there might be a future."
And that thought of what that future might be made Federer great.
The fact that he could, indeed, stand on his own two feet gave him an
edge over the other lads in the locker room. Brought up to be
independent, he completed one of the greatest seasons in the history of
the game last year - and did it without a coach.
He won 11 titles, including three grand slams and three Masters
Series titles. He banked so many ranking points that he would stay
easily ahead of the chasing pack even if he had not won a match for the
first half of this year. And he did it alone.
Federer's forehand is a thing of power and of beauty. His backhand
is, allegedly, his weaker side but there are many, even in the top ten,
who would pay cash money to have a backhand that weak. His serve is not
massive but, by dint of hitting the corners, the "T" and the lines, he
cuts the opposition to shreds. And then there is his volley. And his
movement. And his anticipation. And his ingenuity, hitting shots that
ought not to be allowed and creating winners out of nothing. The man is
simply a genius.
But what sends a shiver of fear through the best of the rest is
Federer's mind. He had lost in the semi-finals of the last two grand
slam events, losing to Marat Safin in Australia and Rafael Nadal at
Roland Garros. Suddenly people were beginning to wonder if he was
fallible after all.
For it to happen a third time would have sent out the wrong message
to his rivals and for it to happen at Wimbledon would have been
unthinkable.
Poor little Lleyton Hewitt was in the wrong place at the wrong time
on Friday. Federer needed to be magnificent and he needed to show that
he was magnificent. He was and he did. He absolutely clobbered the
world No.2 who, let's face it, was the most consistent player on the
planet last year, behind Federer.
"It's his confidence, that's what makes it so tough," Hewitt said.
"He goes for so many shots but if he didn't have the confidence, with
his style of game, he'd miss a lot more than he's missing. He believes
in his ability - and so he should. That's what makes it tougher, he
actually believes."
The belief was found when he beat Pete Sampras here in the fourth
round in 2001. "I think when all the pieces started to fit was when
Roger actually beat Sampras," Lynette Federer said. "He knew before
that that he could beat everybody but everything had to fit. This was
the real breakthrough - he knew 'I can beat everybody'."
Where so many of the top players find getting to the top the easy
part - it is staying there that takes the enormous effort - Federer was
the exact opposite. He had the talent to beat any player when he was
still a teenager but he did not have the mental strength to do it. He
was either too angry on court (if Safin could do it, so could he) or
too calm and he was not yet old enough or experienced to work out why.
A psychological trainer helped him when he was still 17 but Federer
worked most of it out for himself. Of all of Federer's achievements,
his mother seems proudest of this. "It was a matter of finding the
right balance and I think he did it in a great way in that he, himself,
got his whole personality and whole emotion under control," she said.
"He worked hard on himself as well. I know because I watched him as
a child and you can see this development and you can see these
emotions. I think he was determined to succeed but he had to get all
the pieces in place to live with that determination."
Once Federer got to the top of the heap, he was a complete player
and a complete person. Mature, self-assured and ready to deal with
whatever his new life threw at him. The pressures of media and sponsor
commitments are tiring, but he is happy to do what is asked of him,
answering questions in any one of four languages. His determination to
be a role model for the kids who look up to him - and the players he
works alongside - is matched only by his determination to keep the
Wimbledon trophy in his grasp.
But the frightening part about Federer is that should the
unthinkable happen and he loses today, it will not be the end of his
world. He knows he has it within his power to win Wimbledon again. And
again and again. And that is a truly terrifying prospect for his rivals.
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