Waterworks Down Under

Why is it when someone wins and cries people can't help but say, "wow he/she is so passionate about their sport" and "winning really meant a lot to them."  But when someone loses and then cries you're more often to hear someone say, "wow suck it up pal it's just a game" or "man that guy is acting like a huge bitch right now."  The reason is from a young age kids are taught to be good sports and to lose with dignity and honor.  Some people grow up and forget this simple rule however and in the case of Roger Federer maybe never had to learn the rule at all.

Federer was the god of tennis for roughly 4 years when it seemed like he would never be beaten.  This reign came to a crashing end last year when he lost to Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon and there was a, god i hate this saying, "changing of the guard."  Now Federer seems human, is no longer the #1 seed in the world, and isn't even the favorite to win tournaments.  Things were looking bad for Roger and after the Australian Open they are looking a lot worse.

After losing a marathon match to Nadal 7-5 3-6 7-6 3-6 6-2 Federer broke down into tears ala Evelyn Gardner of the Rockford Peaches.  A man that was once the god of tennis was reduced to sobbing as he was beaten by his arch nemesis in a grand slam tournament for the third straight time.

I think the reason that Federer may have let the waterworks fly is because he is so unfamiliar with losing.  He has been a winner for so long that when he finally lost he just copied what the people he had beaten in the past did.  He cried just like they cried.

Federer is my favorite tennis player so it is hard for me to watch him become this sad story but in reality there is still a lot of fight in him.  If he would stop crying and realise that he is still a phenomenal tennis player then he might win that 14th grand slam and pass Pete Sampras and cement his legacy as greatest tennis player to ever live.

The Legend of Roger Federer

On Friday Rafael Nadal beat Nicolas Lapentti 7-6 (3), 6-1 for his 32nd straight win. This win will now make Rafael Nadal the #1 men's tennis player in the world and will end the 235 consecutive week streak of Roger Federer. With the end of the streak comes an end to the Federer dominance of men's tennis and the passing of the torch to the 22 year old Spaniard. Nadal is having one of the best seasons in tennis history having won Wimbledon and the French Open already and looking like a lock to win the US Open. With the end of the streak I feel it merits a look back at the Legend that was Roger Federer

Federer's streak began on January 26th 2004 after Federer won the Australian Open and passed Andy Roddick as the new #1. Federer would go on to win 10 more Grand Slams through the duration of the streak and would put himself in the record books multiple times. He would also enter the discussion of who is the best tennis player of all time.

To truly understand how impressive this streak is here are some facts about just how long 235 weeks truly is. The last time someone other than Roger Federer was #1:

- The #1 movie at the box office was Shrek 2
- The #1 album in the world was Confessions by Usher
- Martha Stewart was found guilty of stock tampering
- The Boston Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years
- Survivor was in its 8th season (It is now in its 19th season)
- There was a lockout in the NHL
- Shows such as LOST, The Apprentice, and CSI: New York were making their premiers
- Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3 were not for sale
- Pluto was still a planet

By looking at these facts you can start to understand how truly impressive the streak truly was. To put it into perspective the old record was 160 weeks held by Jimmy Connor for men and 186 weeks held by Steffi Graf for women. Federer was the most dominant athlete of his time in a sport where one mistake can cost you everything.

So much has happened in the world since January 26th 2004. Things change everyday but there was one thing that never changed, Roger Federer being #1. It is an end that came seemingly out of nowhere but one that eventually had to happen.

Federer is Human

Believe it or not Roger Federer is human and he proved it when he was knocked out of the Rogers Cup with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 loss to France's Gilles Simon in a second-round match Wednesday night. That’s right. Roger Federer lost in his first match since losing to Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon.

When asked about what happened on the court Federer had this to say, "As the match went on I struggled a little bit to put the forehands away," Federer said. "He's a good baseliner. We saw that today. He moves well. He's deceiving because he's kind of thin and tall but moves really well for his height, you know. He flicks a lot of balls with his backhand as well, so when you come in you can't see where he plays."

Federer looked firmly in control after winning the first set 6-2 but just couldn’t get his game together as he committed numerous unforced errors. Actually in the very last game of the match Federer was serving and lost 4 straight points by committing unforced errors.

Federer won this tournament in 2004 and 2006 and finished 2nd last year to Serbia's Novak Djokovic but yesterday became the first top seed to lose in his first match here since Lleyton Hewitt in 2002.

This loss coupled with Federer’s losses to Nadal at the French Open and Wimbledon are starting to make the Swiss phenom look less invincible. If Nadal wins this tournament he may become the new #1 seed and break Federer’s streak of over 231 weeks of being the top guy.

While people may be saying that Roger has lost it and is no longer the great player he once was it seems that these statements may be made with little knowledge of Roger’s year at all. Currently in 2008 he is 43-9 and has already won 2 singles titles. If not for losing to Nadal in two Major finals then he would be 45-7 with 4 titles 2 of them being majors. He has come into a bit of bad luck in the fact that he has had to play Nadal so many times who is playing the best tennis of his life.

So while many say Federer isn’t the best anymore I feel that it is far too early to be making statements like that as there is still plenty of tennis left to be played this year. It must also be noted that in his best year to date Nadal has already lost 7 matches as well. I don’t feel that it is right to immediately get all over someone’s case just because they don’t win every single tournament.

Possible reasons for Roger’s losing of late may be that he is distracted from tennis by things such as his clothing line and his incredibly hot girlfriend. Roger may simply just have a case of celebrity and he is starting to believe his own hype. I’m not trying to make excuses for the guy but I find it troubling how quickly people forget that his pure dominance of tennis for the last 4 years.

Finally I will point out that the man who beat Roger Federer yesterday wasn’t some bum. He was the 22nd ranked player in the world so let’s not go overboard with the Roger bashing.

Best Match Ever

For the first time since 2003 someone other than Roger Federer has won Wimbledon. Rafael Nadal needed 4 hours and 48 minutes and every bit of skill he possesses to finally beat the world’s #1 player at the All England Club. Nadal won 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7 and became the first player to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year since Bjorn Borg did it in 1980.

Nadal wasn’t the only one chasing history on Sunday however as Federer was so close to becoming the first man since the 1880s to win a sixth consecutive championship at the All England Club. Instead however Federer was forced to sit alone in his chair with his thoughts in his very posh RF sweater and think about what might have been.

Federer went down to 2 sets to 0 but fought back bravely and even staved off two Championship Points in the fourth set. However history was against him as no man since 1927 had come back to win a Wimbledon final after losing the first two sets, and none had overcome a match point to seize victory since 1948. There was a feeling that if anyone could do it though it would be Roger Federer, especially since it was on grass. Going into Sunday's final he hadn't lost a match on grass since 2002, and he also hadn't lost a set during this tournament before Sunday.

That was all before Rafael Nadal though. Nadal, who everyone has now labeled as the new greatest player in the world, in one year he embarrassed Federer at the French Open and then took him to his limits and beat him at his best surface at Wimbledon. For Nadal this was his fifth Grand Slam title and his first away from the French Open shaking the claim that he was a one surface player who couldn’t do well anywhere else.

As far as the Federer vs. Nadal rivalry goes it was their sixth Grand Slam final, already more than between any other pair of men in the 40-year Open era. There could be many to follow though as Federer is only 26 and Nadal is 22. Federer has led the rankings for a record 231 consecutive weeks, and Nadal has been second for a record 154.

I personally thought the match was one of the most exciting sporting events that I had watched since March Madness in the final game with Kansas and Memphis. The only thing I didn’t like was how Rafael Nadal was running around in the stands hugging people and shaking hands immediately after his win. You are supposed to show some class and to me that shows disrespect to his opponent. Other than that an absolutely amazing match that everyone should have watched and it would give people a new found respect for the game of tennis. I know it did for me.