16 Is Not Enough: Roger Must Want More

"You guys try to analyze it from a numbers standpoint and I'm telling you; there is no explanation for it. It's bigger than us." This one sentence; a radio voice relaying the words from another taut, sublime Aaron Sorkin script for the movie Moneyball, sums up why it's time to stop the Roger Federer eulogies.

Enough is enough.

Yes he's won 16 slams. Yes he's won ALL 4 slams, something few players have achieved. Yes he has a wife and a couple of little Rogerlings. And yes he could pack up his kit, walk away into the sunset and still be regarded as the greatest man to have graced a tennis court. While these are some of the reasons that have incited 'when will Roger retire' speculation, the case for him continue is far far stronger.

Thankfully, for now, he doesn't sound like he is ready to walk away. But boy does he have a fight on his hands.

A certain Novak Djokovic has gone from brittle to braveheart over the last year and has built himself a blood pump stronger than Rafael Nadal's- which is more than scary, considering Nadal's is made up of a high grade titanium alloy.

So now he has to get past two warriors. Still, he likes playing Djokovic more than he does Nadal, and he beat him in a Roland Garros semi last year and lost narrowly in New York.

All this leads up neatly to the quote from Moneyball.

Why analyze it numerically? Surely, after their gut busting battles in Melbourne, these three men and their fairly substantial supporting acts led by Andy Murray have made tennis bigger than us; bigger than numbers, and certainly at the moment, bigger than most other sport. Roger Federer is one of the three. Why should he go? Why should he go when he is part of a script that will be read, cited and talked about years to come.

As a recent article I read so succinctly pointed out- when these three play each other, it is almost as if they don't care about who wins. The court somehow rises above the arenas they grace and the most important thing in their minds seems to be how they can better the previous point- cue rally after rally of astonishing hitting, rally after rally of epic grandeur, rally after rally of eye watering physical brutality- a sustained pushing to the limit of skills and endurance- every match is like Jimmy Page playing the Stairway crescendo- without all the build up- from start to finish.

Some think that Federer might retire after the 2012 Olympics, especially if he wins it; that he may not be around for the U.S Open. When asked how he was feeling after the loss to Nadal in Melbourne this is what he said "I'm feeling fresh, I'm feeling fit and ready for the season." The business of writing about sport involves speculating. The wild ones usually sell more papers.

Surely Federer retiring is a topic that needs to be put aside.

Don't we all want him to be around for a long long time?

There is another poignant moment in Moneyball where Billy Beane, played by Brad Pitt says "I'm not in it for the records. If we don't win the last game of series they will erase us."

Roger Federer has not won the last match in a grand slam for over two years. For someone who had won sixteen of those over five, the numbers probably hit hard.

Till he wins another one there will be speculation of his departure.

I'll tell you what though. Somewhere deep in the recesses of his mind or perhaps on the surface (though it doesn't seem to show), Roger Federer will want to beat Rafael Nadal on the Paris clay.

Nadal stripped him off his Wimbledon crown, on that hallowed grass that he glided and danced on with such effortless poise, ruthlessly dismantling victims like an assassin who doesn't believe in spilling blood.

Sometime in the future, if they ever make a movie about this Golden Age of men's tennis, Federer will want a music score similar to that one in Moneyball. The haunting sounds of the piano with the crackling radio commentary rising above the tear inducing music "…and Roger Feder has beaten Rafael Nadal at the French Open. I cannot explain the scenes here. Federer is flat on the floor, covered in the red mud, surely trying to understand what he has just done."

"His achievement is beyond the stats; the numbers…"

Close up of Federer's watery eyes.

Fade scene.

Closing credits to more haunting music.

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Djokovic overpowers Nadal in astonishing final

If this was a heavyweight boxing bout, the referee would have had to stop the fight in the final round. In the final set every shot was a body blow, every rally, a right hook flush to the jaw. This was tennis' version of the Thrilla in Manila. A brutal fight, which like the blood-spattered Ali-Frazier showdown in 1975, will live long in the memory of people present at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, and the many millions watching across the world. At one point in the fifth set, despite their inability to walk straight, they conjured rallies of such ferocity that after one such lengthy exchange, a 31 shot melee and the longest of the match, Novak Djokovic, crumpled to the ground, gasping for air.

Yet he somehow dug deep down into his mind boggling reserves to edge Rafael Nadal 5-7 6-4 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 7-5.

Epic is a word being bandied around regularly these days when describing matches between the top four. While this Australian Open final ticked almost all the boxes required to call it an epic, it fell a little short of the levels of sustained technical brilliance seen in the Nadal-Federer semi final.

However, for the pure Hitchcockian drama and the unbelievable examination of human will , this match trumped both semis. In fact, it trumped most tennis matches that preceded it. Ever.

In a six-hour script that Hitchcock would've been proud of, Nadal had Djokovic on the rope in the fifth, only for the Serb to somehow get over the line through the rear window.

In doing so Djokovic has done to Nadal what Nadal did to Federer three years ago. The difference here was that while Federer wilted in the fifth set in 2009, Nadal pushed the Serb all the way, inexplicably going from a break and 15-40 up on his opponent's serve in the seventh game before somehow managing to throw it away.

Nadal has a 107-1 career record of winning matches in which he has bagged the first set. The fact that he was unable to kill the match after breaking in the fifth will rankle, and though he looked visibly rattled after losing his serve to give the Serb a way back, he somehow managed to hold himself together at the trophy presentation.

'Good morning everybody'. he said, almost cheerily. It was close to 2 A.M.

Is this the Golden Era for men’s tennis? Trying arguing otherwise. Incredible.

Slow burner

Understandably, the match began slowly, with Djokovic incessantly muttering to himself and his team. His footwork was giving him a headache, the semi-final with Murray taking its toll. Across the net, Nadal's whipped forehand, such a weapon towards the end of the Berdych match and against Federer, was incognito. The tennis failed to reach their now perfunctory lofty standards, and the pair traded breaks before Nadal clinched the first set. After enduring a frustrating 2011 against the Serb - six straight defeats- two in grand slam finals, Nadal seemed on course to breaking the hoodoo.

But the new Djokovic avatar then exploded into life and a sense of deja vu hung over the arena as he took control of the match. 2011 must surely have flashed in front of the Spaniard's eyes as Djokovic started taking the balls early and bossing the rallies. In a flash he had taken the second and third sets.. Even a flock of seagulls failed to quell the resurgence.

The dark cloud that hung over Nadal for much of this time started shedding drops of rain that spread across the arena.

Rain delay

The rain came down at 4-4 in the fourth with Nadal clinging on to the Serb's coat tails through sheer will. His tennis had failed to step up to the pummeling he was receiving, but his heart, all steely aortas, veins and valves, kept him in the set, taking it to the tie-breaker. There he found himself 4-5 and a mini-break down, only for Djokovic to dump an easy inside out forehand put away into the net.

The Spaniard served out the set, fell to his knees, pumped his fists so hard his arms nearly fell off and let out a guttural roar. The match had come to a boil. It was now a visceral dogfight. A classic.

Final Act

The momentum had now swung Nadal's way but some incredible serving by both men meant that there was no sniff of a break till the sixth game. More brutal hitting from the baseline and then a break point for Nadal, which he gobbled up when Djokovic dragged a forehand long. 4-2 Nadal and the match was in his grasp. A chance to wipe out the misery of 2011 was in his grasp.

Then, the penultimate twist in the match unraveled. Novak Djokovic, running on an empty tank, broke back. 3-4 Djokovic became 4-4. That 31 shot rally, the longest of the match, came in the ninth game of the set with Nadal serving. With Djokovic floored, the crowd rose to it's feet in spontaneous applause. Djokovic picked himself up, dusted himself down and penned the final twist of this breathtaking tale, breaking Nadal in the eleventh game. The Serb then served out the championship, fell to the floor on the service line, before jumping up- simultaneously roaring into the hovercam that zoomed down towards him.

It was finally over and as Djokovic tore his t-shirt and once again let rip that now familiar primal roar, one got the sense that it would take Nadal a long time to get over this defeat. The Serb has struck seven past the Spaniard now without reply, and will no doubt relish dethroning him on clay at Roland Garros in May.

The French Open couldn't come sooner, and with Federer and Murray still very much seated on the carousel that carries the top four, the 2012 tennis season promises to be EPIC.

Picture Source: Reuters

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