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August 3, 2006
Federer is bringing back both style and manners to tennis
By Timothy S. Goeglein, News-Sentinel
We are at the best time of
the year for the best sport of all, tennis. Wimbledon has just ended,
and we are on the cusp of the United States Open. Yet something far
more important is coming back in tennis: The gentlemanly ideal, rooted
in the style and grace of a player who may yet emerge as the best
gentlemen’s tennis player of the last 75 years.
When the No. 1-seeded tennis player in the world, Roger Federer of
Switzerland, walked onto center court at Wimbledon wearing a
cream-colored blazer last month, he would have been right in 1920s
style, in the era of the greatest American ever to play the game, Bill
Tilden. Yet there is nothing outdated about his game, as he proved by
beating his most vexing opponent, Rafael Nadal of Spain, at Wimbledon.
For those of us who love tennis but had to wince in the post-Arthur
Ashe era because of the on-court antics of Jimmy Connors and John
McEnroe, the Federer era is more than a breath of fresh air. It is a
return to civility, to the gentlemanly era of tennis that many thought
had faded like yesterday’s rose.
Federer’s most powerful weapon is his sheer athleticism, his ability
to lose gracefully, and his willingness to win with a kind of aplomb
that makes the defeated feel honored to have played him. This is the
key to understanding Federer. He knows that the game and its remarkable
history are bigger than he is. He serves and represents it well.
No tennis great, not Rod Laver, not Stan Smith, not Borg, not
McEnroe, not Pete Sampras, won every final, much less every match. But
in the last year and a half, Federer has lost only eight times, and
most of those contests have gone the distance.
It is because Federer has been so impossibly good that his recent
performances have people wondering if his gentlemanly demeanor is for
real. Isn’t it supposed to be easy to be graceful when you are winning
all the time? Even the master needs a test now and then for his own
good, and for ours. It is what makes competition at that level so
rewarding. But overall, he is quickly emerging as Federer the Fabulous.
In three years, he has lost a mere five sets, and in games, he leads
his opponents 415-244. He has lost his serve only 23 times, once every
three matches. He is never late for dinner because on average, he
spends less than two hours on court and has been pushed past three sets
only five times.
Where is the root of this graceful style? It is, I think, his
return-at-service that is unparalleled. He returns service
exceptionally well on grass, despite the server’s distinct advantage.
In three years of play, Federer watched an ace whistle by him only five
times per match, about half as often as the average player at Wimbledon
during the same span.
The largest historical question is whether Federer will meet or
surpass the remarkable achievement of Sampras, who is easily the most
accomplished American men’s player of the contemporary era. I think the
answer is yes, but for a reason that is not apparent. You cannot
measure true greatness merely by athletic ability. Instead you have to
look for virtue on the court, a kind of moral excellence combined with
athleticism. Although he will accept no trophy for breaking Borg’s
41-match streak on grass courts, neither will he eventually quit or go
out badly like the great Swede. His equipoise is just different, and
that comes from temperament, from an on-court calm and presence that
seems instinctive. He routinely matches his peers in power and ability
but consistently surpasses them in his agile style and grace.
Federer is the man of the hour in all professional sports. He is
proving that the gentlemanly ideal, thought only to still exist in
golf, is on the rebound in tennis. The ghosts of yore, on fabled grassy
courts, are cheering him on. So should we.
Fort Wayne native Timothy S. Goeglein is a special assistant to President Bush in the White House.
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