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July 9, 2007
Federer channels spirit of Borg to reach new level of brilliance
By James Lawton, Independent
In all the rain and the travail there was one enduring promise and here
on one of the most sun-blessed evenings sport of any kind will ever
know, it finally shone like a jewel.
Roger Federer not only invaded history beneath the gaze of Bjorn Borg,
whose record mark of five straight Wimbledon titles he matched in his
stupendous five-set battle with the 21-year-old heir apparent to all
his glory, Rafael Nadal. He wrestled with it, he shaped it and,
finally, with the power of his young challenger surging so strongly you
had to wonder if all the skill in the world could first contain it,
then put it away, he simply refused to let it go.
Federer thanked the great Borg and everybody for coming and all
those who had been drawn to the Centre Court could only say that the
privilege was entirely theirs.
It was, after all, one of those rare occasions when you see a
sportsman of the highest class fulfil one of the deepest of his
ambitions not simply because of the weight of his talent, but also
because of a will that refuses be denied. A few minutes after his
triumph, by 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-2, he embraced his boyhood idol Borg
beneath the roll of champions.
More than ever, Federer looked like a character fresh off the pages
of F Scott Fitzgerald in his elegant white jacket. Borg, for whom a
T-shirt and jeans made the uniform in the days of his glory back in the
Seventies, wore a baggy suit and an unfamiliar club tie but, however
wide the sartorial, and generational, gap, there was a unity of spirit
as powerful as one of the 24 aces with which Federer had sought to wing
and push back the challenge of the rampaging Nadal.
Borg said that he was thrilled to return to his old hunting ground -
for only the second time since he walked away from the highest level of
competition - because what all Wimbledon had celebrated was the sight
of a sportsman at work who had set - and achieved for himself - only
the highest standards.
"The thing about Roger Federer," said Borg, "is that he wants to be
perfect. He doesn't just want to win. Everyone who plays a game wants
to do that. Roger wants to get everything right."
In the end, in the evening sunlight, that was precisely the
achievement of the Swiss who was claiming his 11th Grand Slam title -
and also putting together the kind of defining performance which
matched Borg's superb collision with John McEnroe.
Nadal's distinction, like McEnroe's, was that he played so hard and
with such soaring self-belief, that not only did he find the best of
himself, he also demanded everything from an opponent who, some time
ago, was being described by many as the greatest tennis player of all
time - a giant status to place him alongside his kindred spirit in
golf, Tiger Woods. Federer lay briefly on the Centre Court grass and
wept. Wept for those feelings that come to the greatest of competitors
who know they have been tested maybe more profoundly than ever before.
If you move around sport you see it often enough - you see on the
face of a fighter or a jockey or a footballer who knows that he may not
know such a sweet feeling ever again - but rarely do you see it after
such a tide of exquisitely skilled action.
It went on for three hours 46 minutes and never did it begin to pall
on the senses. If Federer sometimes seemed rattled, even despairing,
there was the best possible reason. It was that Nadal, despite a
desperately difficult Wimbledon when the rains seem constantly to work
against the development of a true rhythm, came to the greatest
challenge of his life in a mood of absolute determination.
Privately, he said that he was coming to terms with the challenge of
the Wimbledon grass which Federer had made his favourite hunting
ground. While his run of three straight French Opens had established
him as the master of the red clay of Paris - which left Federer so
tentative whenever they met on such alien ground - he also had his
reasons to believe that one day he might also rule in SW19.
Last summer the man from Mallorca made his first stab at such
ambition and, while he won a set and produced moments of serious
menace, he never seriously suggested that he believed he could beat
Federer. He was an apprentice exploring the ground of a master.
Last evening it was all rather different. Nadal carried a roaring
impatience with any idea that he would have to endure much longer the
head-patting that sport distributes to the upcomers. He wanted to hear
the roar that sounds for the new champion, the new man.
There were times in the second and fourth sets, which he won in what
sometimes looked like frenzies of anguish, that he allowed Federer to
take icy grips on the tie-breaks that came at the end of the first and
the third, it seemed that Nadal had indeed seized his moment of tennis
history.
The power of his shot-making seemed to push Federer against the
ropes and though, at 25, the champion was a mere four years older than
his challenger, sometimes he appeared to have acquired some of the
uncertainties of old age. This tended to be the case when Nadal split
the court with withering groundstrokes, especially the double back-hand
that lands with the impact of a trench mortar.
But however brightly the self-belief of Rafael Nadal shone, there
was always a counterpoint that lit up the sky. It was Roger Federer
proving that the great sportsmen operate at their best when the
pressure is at its highest. The young Spanish pretender had pushed him
into a corner, invited him to show that he still owned the crown jewels
of tennis.
The response was so majestic it will never die in the memories of
those who saw it. Federer played shots that defied various laws of
physics and logic. He found avenues of attack which took the breath
away. He hit the ball with the kind of artistic perfection you do not
normally find outside a great concert hall. And then, when the victory
was gathered in, he spoke of the hard times coming his way under the
threat of Rafael Nadal. He said that with a gleam in his eyes.
It was one that spoke of new challenges, new opportunities to prove
the extent of your talent and your belief. For the moment, it can be a
matter of only the most admiring speculation.
Five in a row: Federer equals Borg's record
The Swedish legend was in the crowd at Centre Court yesterday to see
his record of five wins in the men's singles from the 1970s and 80s
matched in dramatic fashion by the Swiss master
* FEDERER
2003: bt Mark Philippoussis 7-6, 6-2, 7-6
2004: bt Andy Roddick 4-6, 7-5, 7-6, 6-4
2005: bt Andy Roddick 6-2, 7-6, 6-4
2006: bt Rafael Nadal 6-0, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3
2007: bt Rafael Nadal: 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-2
* BORG
1976: bt Ilie Nastase 6-4, 6-2, 9-7
1977: bt Jimmy Connors 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4
1978: bt Jimmy Connors 6-2, 6-2, 6-3
1979: bt Roscoe Tanner 6-7, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
1980: bt John McEnroe 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7, 8-6
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