At 33, Federer still game for more

Wimbledonrsquos Centre Court last year was witness to one of the most painful moments of my life Roger Federer the defending champion lost a secondround match to an inspired serve and volley performance by Sergiy Stakhovsky ranked 116 in the world There was much at stake for Federer most notably his 18th Grand Slam All blown away by a better player on the day and a standing ovation from a stunned crowd wondering if this was the end Could it get any worseThis onersquos for the boys Swiss Davis Cup team From left Michael Lammer Marco Chiudinelli team captain Severin Luethi Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka pose with the Davis Cup trophy in Lausanne Federer was the toast of Switzerland on November 23 as he applied the final touches to his countryrsquos first ever Davis Cup win PicAFPAs it happened 2013 did not improve not for Federer and not for his millions of fans around the world Was time up for the greatest player in the world Whatever time had in store the knives were certainly out Too old too slow too elegant too classic his competitors are all full of rigour and vigour and most of all youthful indefatigable energy Go now while the curtain will still be kind to you before it comes crashing down You know sportswriters the world over No degree in astrology from some ancient Indian university set up by todayrsquos HRD ministry but they know everything before itrsquos even thought of except matchfixing in cricket of courseSo with Federer fans lost in gloom and experts licking their chops at all the fab obits they could write we reached 2014 No this is not going to be a history lesson But how about a few stats 5 titles a winloss record of 7312 82 titles in all 23 Masters 1000s and Switzerlandrsquos first Davis Cup win with the Swiss team Age 33And suddenly that old age that meant retirement now means new glory When Federer pulled out of the last ATP World Tour Final match against Novak Djokovic because of a back injury there were gasps of deacutejagrave vu The situation was made worse by media reports of a spat between him and his Swiss Davis Cup teammate and old friend Stanislas Wawrinka Federerrsquos loss to Gael Monfils in the second Davis Cup rubber in the Davis Cup finals did not help The back pain was evidentBut gloom despair and Federer have not been good travelling companions not since he turned pro in 1998 and not since he won his first Wimbledon and first Grand Slam title in 2003 He came out the next day with Wawrinka to play doubles and they smashed the French opposition And the day after that he gave Gasquet not an inch of that carefullychosentofoilFederer clay court in Lille France to call his own And when Switzerland won its first Davis Cup Federer said it was not for him but ldquofor the boysrdquoI for one not being either omniscient or prescient have decided not to have any more ldquopainful momentsrdquo Because obvious truism alert the joy of being a fan of a sport and of a consummate sportsperson is the joy of the process and the progress as much as the result Each of those magical backhands those delicate drop shots those powerful forehands those unreal volleys those cheeky lobs those precious serves those lethal slices those killer passing shots all of those are enough to get by And take you from one timetoretire obit to the nextAnd once again patience has paid off and the sportsperson the sport and mdash dare I say it mdash the fan have won in the end Intriguingly Federerrsquos fan following has only gone up as the experts have put him in decline mode I have seen a whole new generation of fans who appreciate his talent his greatness and his essence enter the Federer follower brigade after he had to share the spoils with both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic And oddly since Federerrsquos domination decreased barring Nadal at the French Open no player today has managed to match Federerrsquos dominance And no wonder here he is at 33 number 2 in the world not dogged by injury like poor Nadal mdash who is five years younger mdash and with the best winloss record of the seasonSo herersquos to celebrating one of the greatest sportspersons wersquove ever had the pleasure and honour to watch Going up or going down who cares Wersquore just going alongRanjona Banerji is a senior journalist You can follow her on twitter ranjona