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January 10, 2006
An Amazing Run For Federer
By Lucas Swineford, United States Tennis Association
As
we head into the 2006 season, let’s take one final opportunity to
reflect and appreciate Roger Federer for his 2005 season. The world’s
top-ranked player took some time out recently to speak with USTA.com
about his incredible year. The most passionate
tennis fan I know works at a deli in my parent’s neighborhood. I’ve
known this guy for over 20 years, and when he found out I was coming to
work at the USTA, he was thrilled. I can no longer just run in and run
out when he’s working. He likes to sit around talking about the pro
game for a bit. He gives me free coffee, I give him an ear.
When I went in the store the night before Thanksgiving to pick
up a few last-minute items for my mom’s holiday dinner, he was ready
for a serious talk. “I can’t believe Nalbandian beat him in the
last match of the year,” he said. No hello. No what’s new. He got right
into it the moment I walked in.
I
knew the he in this sentence referred to his favorite player, Roger
Federer. The match had been over for a few days, but he still looked as
dejected as my 13-year-old brother-in-law did the moment Vince Young
galloped into the end zone to beat his beloved USC Trojans in the Rose
Bowl. His disappointment with Federer’s loss still hung fresh. I
tried to console my deli friend by reminding him that not only was
Federer nursing an injury, but that Nalbandian, like the other three
men who beat Roger in 2005, had to play the proverbial match of his
life to score the upset. “I suppose,” he said. “I just hope
this loss doesn’t take away from everything else he accomplished this
year. That finishing on a down note doesn’t spoil it.” We then went
back and forth about some of Federer’s best matches during the year.
This seemed to lift his spirits. He finished off our talk by telling me
he believed Roger had a quality which, unfortunately, seems rare
among athletes these days: he’s nice. “The guy deserves as much
recognition as he can get.” Walking out of the deli that night,
I started to think about the year Roger Federer had. Eighty-one wins,
11 singles titles, 2 Grand Slam championships, a 35-match win streak,
several match-of-the-year candidates – his season was insane by any
standards. But would the final loss take something away from all the
positives? Would Roger Federer be forced to spend his off-season like
Eli Manning, having a loss overshadow all the accomplishments? I
could ask myself these questions all day, and I’d get nowhere. There
was only one person who could give me the answer I was after: Roger
Federer. And not only did I find out whether the season-ending
loss stung more than the others, but in the course of tracking down the
answer, I learned many things about the world’s top-ranked tennis
player. Lesson One: Roger Federer is extremely nice. How I know this:
Even though he was in the middle of a vacation, Roger Federer agreed to
answer some questions for me about his season over e-mail. That’s
right – after traveling the world for the last 11 months, competing
just about every week, Federer was finally able to head to a beach
somewhere in December for a quick couple of weeks of down time before
it was time to hit the courts and get training for 2006. I’m happy to
say it wasn’t all sunsets and daiquiris for Federer. He took a few
minutes during his off-time to exchange e-mails with a writer. I wonder
if titans of other sports, say Lebron James or Roger Clemens, would
answer my e-mails while they were on vacation. I don’t know either of
them, have never dealt with them, but I’m guessing if I were able to
get through the layers and layers of press reps, managers, agents and
even “All Business Lebron” (my favorite incarnation), we still wouldn’t
become electronic pen pals.
Lesson Two: The loss in Shanghai did nothing to “ruin” his season. How I know this:
When asked directly whether failing to close out the year with a
victory took something away from his season as a whole, Roger not only
dismisses the idea but has the complete opposite feeling about his time
in Shanghai. “Not at all. I was extremely happy to have made it that far, considering the injury.” Let’s
not forget that prior to the tournament in Shanghai, Roger hadn’t
played an ATP match for seven weeks thanks to an injury. He rolled his
ankle during a training session in October and was on crutches leading
right up to the season’s final tournament. But rather than focus on the
negative of losing that championship match, he chose to see the
positive of making it to the final match with an injury. As if
to hammer home the point that the experience in Shanghai was more a
victory lap than a season-destroyer, Federer concluded his answer by
letting me know that he “enjoyed the moment when I was crowned No. 1
(in the year-end ATP rankings) inside the beautiful stadium of
Shanghai.” Talk about the power of positive thinking. Lesson Three: Roger Federer respects his competition. How I know this:
I presented Roger with a list of what I thought were his most-amazing
accomplishments this year. His win total, the number of titles he won,
his lengthy winning streak, all that. And when I asked him to point out
which one he was most proud of, he went for Choice E: None of the
above. “Only having four losses all year is what I liked most!”
he wrote back. I don’t want to read too much into his answer, but the
way I took it was that he is not in awe but respectful of the fact that
in a year in which he played almost 100 matches against the greatest
athletes in the world, he only lost to four of them. I believe he
understands how historic it is that he is performing at such a high
level, considering the caliber of competition he faces each time he
goes out on the court. Lesson Four: Roger Federer appreciates great tennis, rivalries and nifty analogies. How I know this:
“In Wimbledon against Andy, it (my tennis) was just flawless, like a
polished diamond,” said Roger, when asked if one match stuck out in his
mind. There were a couple of things about his answer that
struck me. For one, comparing his performance to a polished diamond is
fantastic. Whereas most people would relate something beautiful to just
a diamond, Roger goes one step further -- “a polished diamond.” As if
to say, my diamond is more glorious than your diamond. It’s thoughts
like this, answers that show a little bit of swagger, that tell me
Federer loves competing. Because there are times where it appears
boredom could be his biggest enemy. Win 95 percent of your matches, and
it’s only natural to get complacent – but not this guy. He might
already own a diamond, but now he wants to polish it. Make the diamond
better. I like that he chose a match with Andy Roddick. Like
every other player on the planet, Andy hasn’t had an easy time grabbing
wins from the top player in the game, but it’s not like Federer
sleepwalks his way through the matches with Andy. Here he’s saying,
through my 81 wins, this is the match that I played so well, I’d call
it perfect – and Roddick pushed him to a tiebreak in one set and was
competitive in the other two. We all want to see the
Federer/Roddick rivalry heat up like a heavyweight fight. They go slug
for slug, trading victories all over Europe and the U.S. week in and
week out. Although we haven’t seen it yet, Federer’s comments could
indicate that we’re not far off. Lesson Five: Everyone not named Roger Federer could be in trouble in 2006.
How I know this:
The answer Roger gave me when asked about his goals for the upcoming
season are words that should send Rafael Nadal back to the weight room
and get Lleyton Hewitt on his way to a couple of extra sprints
after practice. Roger, what will 2006 be like for you? “It will
be very similar to this year! I will defend my No. 1 position and will
win Wimbledon again – but this time for the fourth year in the row!” I think I just heard Marat Safin heading to the psychiatrist. Enjoy 2006!
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