Both titans are in the autumn of their careers yet their matches are the biggest draws
Sporting rivalries live in a world of their own. It is a world of hyperactive, loud altercations among rival supporters, of verbal fisticuffing through tweets and Facebook entries — laudatory or abusive — depending on your loyalty. As such rivalries go, the one between 19-times Grand Slam winner Roger Federer and 16-time winner Rafael Nadal figures at the top, rubbing shoulders with folklores kindled by Borg-McEnroe, Agassi-Sampras and Navratilova-Chris Evert-lloyd. The sport will be far less steamy when these two eternal competitors retire and their clashes no longer dot future tennis. At the season-ending Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows in New York this year, spectators were waiting with baited breath for the expected semi-final clash between the Swiss dude and the fierce Spaniard. That Federer lost in a previous match, sagged collective spirits and took the punch out of the tournament. Nadal went on to win the trophy in one-sided, mostly unwatched matches following Federer’s loss, showing how, even now when both are in the autumn of their glittering careers battling injuries and age, tennis needs them and their on-court battles. Their longevity in the game is as legendary as Sachin’s was to cricket. let’s go back to the January 26, 2012 blockbuster from the Australian Open. Eternal rivals were facing each other in a Grand Slam event for the first time after 2009. Expectedly, not just tennis icon Federer and ace Nadal were in the throes of energy, but also their supporters worldwide. One fan even suggested that Federer had lost only because he had dented the ego of Nadal by taking the first set! So much so that Federer was constrained to say that his followers need not feel too bad for him!
The semi-final clash was a scintillating, heart-stopping 4.5 hour session of high grade tennis that evening. But, even unreasonable fans could not defend the 60 unforced errors Federer committed to give away the game to Nadal. Commentator Vijay Amritraj was compelled to acknowledge the celestial reach of the Spaniard. The two cross court passes which did in Federer, can’t be humanly explained, much like the smooth backhand winners of his opponent. Federer’s longevity, his being a winner despite being on the wrong side of tennis age, his return from an injury break and his consistent presence in the penultimate rounds of all competitions are equally inexplicable. So long live Federer and his dream to down Nadal, something he has acknowledged as becoming rarer and rare despite achieving the feat at the Australian Open this January. “let me take some home before Rafa takes them all,” he said with a smile after one win back in those years when super slamming (winning all four slams of the season) was a habit of this polished maestro. So much for legends of the game giving the sport those special moments it often survives on.