Roger Federer: Carving a legacy that defies time

It is over two decades since Roger Federer first stepped on to Centre Court and showcased the greatest act of seduction tennis has ever seen July 2001 A talented but untested teenager in the white heat of a Grand Slam battle On the other side of the net stood Pete Sampras the greatest grasscourt gunslinger of them all with a menacing serve and volleys as crisp as a hard candy shellThe American had won seven of the previous eight Wimbledons and more Grand Slams than anyone else yet such was the audacity of Federerrsquos shotmaking in his epic fourthround victory that he quickly held the crowd in the palm of his handSampras gave the equivalent of a papal blessing to the deceptively slender preternaturally determined ponytailed 19yearold Federer ldquoThere are a lot of good players coming up and Roger is one of themrdquo he said ldquoBut I think he is a little more extra special than the other guysrdquo And so it proved In the many years that passed by It took a further two years for him to win his first Grand Slam at Wimbledon in 2003 but he soon dominated the game like no other on and off the court A certain beauty grace and sophistication existed unique to Federerrsquos game He successfully transformed tennis into an art form seemingly inventing shots on the fly The way he would go about contorting his body each time to hit serves or snap his wrist to unleash his demonic forehand looked so effortless because of his masterful executionWith a quick pitterpatter of his nimble feet he would almost hover above the court I seem to think that in another life he would probably give Fred Astaire a run for his money on the dance floor who knows He is one of the most romanticised athletes ever to walk the earthrsquos surface and it is easy to see why Beyond the genius shotmaking and overwhelming success he has swayed spectators with his charming persona On the court you see a player who is icy cool even in the face of pressure that would make others crack And his affable downtoearth personality makes him someone easy to adore without limits Perhaps those traits are what still make him so beloved Even 10 months after he hit the hayAt this juncture some might even point to Rafael Nadal and talk about his dominance over Federer Sure the persistent thorn in his side arrived in the form of Nadal more often than not the ferocious bull who has frazzled Federer over the years with his lefty game and claycourt wizardry In 2006 and 2007 Nadal beat him in six finals Two of those losses came at the French Open keeping the Swiss maestro from winning a calendar Grand Slam both yearsAlso Read Roger Federer reveals hilarious incident when a fan mistook him for Rafael NadalA straightset shellacking at the hands of Nadal in the 2008 Roland Garros final raised many eyebrows and escalated Federers malaise Never before had he been so thoroughly outplayed it was an ignominious day for the man who is obsessed with perfection At Wimbledon Federer had beaten Nadal in the last two finals including a fiveset thriller the year beforeWhereas Nadal owned the clay Federer dominated the grass When the two met again in the 2008 final Federer was expected to continue those trendsThanks to an exhilarating match that many regard as the greatest in tennis history Nadal finally toppled Federer and gained control of the throne Wimbledon was supposed to be his salvation instead it became Federers nightmare as he watched his younger foe steal his crown and the No 1 ranking His tailspin ended with a fifthstraight title at the US Open It was a ribbon on an otherwise disappointing seasonFederer with Djokovic Pic AFPThe following year he reasserted himself by appearing in all four Grand Slam finals winning his maiden and sole French Open title and a dramatic Wimbledon victory over Andy Roddick Yet painful fiveset lossesmdashto Nadal at the Australian Open and Juan Martin del Potro at the US Openmdashwas symbolic of a Federer whose invincibility had long since fadedHis virtuoso dismissal of Andy Murray in the 2010 Australian Open final served as a turning point in his career While he seemed destined to extend his prime with that victory Federer instead entered a new era one fraught with more fleeting moments of brillianceWhen he arrived at that yearrsquos French Open Federer had astoundingly reached the semifinals of the last 23 Grand Slam events That streak came to a sudden end when bighitting Robin Soderling took him out on a damp and gloomy day in the quarterfinalsSimilar results soon followedAn exit in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon to Tomas Berdych meant Federer spent the championship Sunday at home for the first time since 2003 Ditto for the US Open where he blew two match points against Djokovic in the semifinals He had lost further ground to a younger rivalSince his Aussie triumph in 2010 Federer had advanced to the finals in three of the last 22 major events he has entered That is a stark contrast to the previous period where he somehow wound up in 17 of 19 Grand Slam championship matchesA turnbacktheclock moment occurred when he defeated Djokovic and Murray in succession for the 2012 Wimbledon crown To date however it remains his only major title in the last five years Legacy is the key word looming over Federer everywhere he goesNadal gets emotional on Federers farewell Pic AFPHis 1023 record against Nadal is a substantial negative on his resume But at age 37 Nadal is in the midst of a career crisis much more severe than anything Federer has ever experienced even at his lowest points Whether or not Nadal will actually overtake Federers major haul is firmly up in the airDjokovic with 23 Grand Slam titles is charging fast at both of them Before all is said and done its conceivable he could finish near the top of the list His level of dominance right now from a winloss standpoint is in the same ballpark as what Federer engineered in his heydayHowever for all his technical precision and machinelike destruction of opponents Djokovic still doesnt possess that same aweinspiring factor Federer did The Serb smothers you with his consistency whereas the younger Federer played a brand of tennis that really cant even be adequately described with wordsIt is tantalising to argue over which player is the best of all time And several people have a legitimate stake in that moniker But as amateur analysts with our macrolevel view of the game we risk missing out on individual talent That Wimbledon loss shouldnt diminish Federers place in the annals of the sport Rather it should make us cherish all that he had to offer over these years He has given us more than enoughTake the Laver Cup for example Nothing can beat the immensely powerful image of Nadal in tears over the retirement of his greatest rival perhaps it was stark proof of the impact that Federer has had on menrsquos tennis To the extent that it keeps throwing up a set of quirky questions If Federer wasnrsquot Federer would Nadal be Nadal after all And then would Djokovic be Djokovic The fact that these men are still pushing each other so hard stems from their initial desire to dethrone Federer Time and again