The Rise and Fall of Roger Federer

There was a time, not too far off in the past, when his biggest rivals had an air of resigned indifference when it came to a match against Roger Federer. It was not just that Federer consistently beat his biggest rivals like Andy Roddick or Lleyton Hewitt or David Nalbandian – He destroyed them.

A game against Federer was akin to a toddler trying to match the might of an Almighty God. Federer made the men look like boys – he ripped apart their games, destroyed their morale, punctured their pride and humiliated them in front of their fans – to the extent that playing tennis itself became an existential question for some of them. Andy Roddick once famously said that he fervently wished that he was born in another era!!

Indeed, the rise seemed inexorable – When Federer entered into his 200^th consecutive week as the World No. 1, he had become the first person to have ever done so and eclipsed the previous record of Jimmy Connors by more than 40 weeks. In a span of 4 years from 2004 – 2007, Federer seemed to win Grand Slams at will – going from 1 at the start of 2004 to 12 at the end of 2007. Mighty Pete Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slams won over 13 years seemed destined to be superseded – there was even an eerily uncomfortable feeling amongst tennis aficionados that calling Pete Sampras a giant of the tennis court, a genius of his times, seemed distinctly incongruous in the presence of the awesome genius of Roger Federer. How could Pistol Pete be called a genius in the same breath as Federer – the way things were going, everybody seemed to agree that it could well be a two dozen Grand Slams before Federer hung up his boots. The problem was that there did not seem to be anybody who could even remotely challenge him, let alone defeat him –whether it was an ATP Tier – II tournament or the august Grand Slam – the champion was pre-ordained if Federer was playing in it. Rod Laver, indisputably the 'Greatest' willingly abdicated his crown – his famous words - "Oh, I would be honoured to even be compared to Roger", seemed to have settled it – the world had never seen a talent like Roger Federer's and he would scale the greatest of heights!!

But destiny had other designs – if there is ever a doubt as to whether the oft-repeated Law of Averages actually holds up – look no further than the career of Roger Federer.

Throughout the purple patch, the French Open and Rafael Nadal had managed to somehow be the only irritants. Federer huffed and puffed at the French Open – since winning the other Slams increasingly seemed like a mere formality each time, he concentrated all his energies into winning at Roland Garros, but Nadal seemed a step ahead each time. Even that was easily accommodated into the script – legends like Sampras and Lendl too had their failings at a particular Grand Slam and it only seemed to suffuse the aura of Federer with even more resplendence. But Nadal was the only person who begged to differ – on his favourite surface – clay – he did his best to ensure that he won each time and thus remain a worthy contender. He tirelessly played numerous tournaments across the world, zigzagging his way across tournaments of various tiers & accumulating precious points to slowly, but surely, emerge as the strongest pretender to Fed-Ex's crown.

2008 would prove to be a seminal year for Federer. The script remained true till the semis of the Australian Open in 2008, when he lost to Novak Djokovic, the first time since 4 years that he failed to reach a Grand Slam final. Very uncharacteristically for Federer, he lost in straight sets at a Grand Slam for the first time in 5 years. He however chose to dismiss the loss as a minor blip – a rusty start to the year because of lack of match practice – he would quickly set the house in order - the pundits agreed. In the next 5 months leading up to Wimbledon, he lost to Andy Murray for the first time in his career, lost the semis of the Indian Wells tournament to American journeyman Mardy Fish, lost to Roddick for the first time since 2003, lost to relative minnows like Radek Stepanek and then lost successive tournaments on clay to Rafael Nadal. He, however, remained unfazed and such was the immensity of the esteem in which he was held by all, that nobody seemed perturbed – i.e. till the French Open. It was a tournament where he would always be the challenger to Nadal, but he had seemed to make progress in each preceding year and everybody expected a cracker of a match when true to script, it was again Nadal vs. Federer in the final. On the contrary, Nadal pummelled him in straight sets – 6-1, 6-3, 6-0 – the final set washout was the first ever for Federer in 10 years!! Nadal had paid him back in the same coin – he had humiliated Federer, much like Federer used to do to his own rivals. Yet, it was clay after all – the situation could still be salvaged.

The tide however, turned decisively at the historic final of Wimbledon 2008 – this was Federer's own backyard – Nadal's greatest weakness was grass and Federer had his best chance to take revenge and nip the rising challenge in the bud. All sorts of records beckoned – a win would see Federer break Bjorn Borg's incredible tally of 5 consecutive Wimbledon titles and enable him to move to within a single title of Sampras' all-time record of 14 Grand Slams. Yet, after an epic 4 hrs 48 mins five-setter that John McEnroe hailed as the greatest ever of tennis history, it was Nadal who emerged triumphant. He had tamed Federer at his strongest bastion, stripped him of his aura of divine invincibility and the world would never be the same again for Roger Federer.

He rallied briefly – winning the US Open late last year to ensure that he did not end the year without a Slam for the first time since 2002, but 2009 has proved that the decline seems increasingly and worryingly, irreversible. While he still seems to be effortlessly gliding into the quarters and semis of tournaments and defeating his old rivals like Hewitt or Roddick, Federer has consistently failed to beat any of his emerging rivals this year – Djokovic or Murray. They have both triumphed against him at crucial stages in tournaments and he isn't even getting enough chances to take a pot-shot at the man who replaced him atop the world rankings – Nadal.

It is not that he has lost his skills or his hunger to win or his passion for the game – it is just that Nadal has taken away his inner belief in his own invincibility. Much like Federer had sucked the self-belief out from the hearts of his yesteryear rivals Roddick and Hewitt, Nadal has done the same to him.

The world can be so very cruel and harsh.

The Wonder that is India

I wrote this post on the day India went into the first phase of elections, around a month back - I am publishing this on the day on which the election results are about to be declared

The world's largest democracy goes into elections from today onwards – a massive exercise of franchise of a billion plus people, spread across a month over the length and breadth of the 7^th largest nation in the world. And as the Dance of Democracy, as most media houses in India are calling it, unveils, a comedy of epic proportions is being played out on the national stage.

Consider a few of its choicest examples:-

1. Anybody who has been following the elections news and rhetoric knows that the BJP considers itself as the only party that can protect India from terror. It trumpets the achievements of Advani as a Home Minister as if he were Superhero Ironman, while condemning tinny-voiced Dr. Manmohan Singh as the worst pansy to have occupied the exalted chair of Indian PM. The Congress took umbrage to this and declared that the BJP's claims were fraudulent – were they not after all the people who threw in the towel in the face of the Kandahar hijacking drama and released dreaded terrorists? The backroom boys at BJP had no answer to this and they did two things – i] Advani claimed that he was not consulted before the Government decided to submit to the hijackers' demands (would he have done differently?) & ii] they decided to paint the Congress in the same brush by saying that Dr. Manmohan Singh, as Leader of the Opposition was consulted and presumably, he agreed with the Government's line of thought. Are they kidding themselves? Their own Home Minister claims to have known nothing, while the Leader of the Opposition was informed of the details? Nonsense!!
   
2. By the same yardstick, is the Congress trying to fool us by saying that they would not have done the same as the BJP Government? Our erudite PM calmly pointed out that the Congress when faced with a similar situation had decided to take on the terrorists head-on and that shows the Congress resolve. Quite laughable – How can the two be compared as similar situations? IC 814 was hijacked and taken to a country, whose Government was decidedly inimical towards India at that point of time, while the 26/11 terrorists were operating on Indian soil and had been surrounded by Indian troops from all sides. Plus, unlike an aeroplane, where all passengers were trapped as a bunch and could be finished off in a single attempt, the majority of the guests in the Taj and the Oberoi had managed to come out and the terrorists had only captured people in clusters. Does the Congress mean that it would have launched a Mossad style commando operation in the heart of Taliban country? Figure out what comes to your mind when you think of that possibility and you will know how absurd the Congress' claims are
   
3. Even more hilarious is the attempt by the ex-Janata Dal leaders like Laloo, Paswan etc to rake up that issue. Perhaps they have forgotten that unlike the Kandahar case where 189 innocent lives were at stake, the Janata Dal Government of V.P. Singh released 5 dreaded terrorists in exchange for Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of the then Indian Home Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.
   
4. The number of times the word 'communal' is used in conjunction with BJP, one has to pardon the kids of today if they think the two are synonyms. One would imagine that the word 'communal' denotes any kind of activities that demonstrate a pronounced bias in favour of a particular community or bias against a particular community. By that yardstick, what would you term the following:- i] the Congress led Government's decision in Andhra Pradesh to give a 5% reservation to Muslims in Government jobs and educational institutions in a flagrant violation of the Supreme Court's diktat on a cap on reservations; ii] the decision by the CPI-M in Kerala to align with Abdul Nasser Madhani, an indicted criminal, who was arrested for his role in the 1998 Coimbatore blasts, that killed 60 people – incidentally, it is the CPI-M which makes the loudest of noises on the BJP's alleged communalism; iii] virulent casteist stratagems employed by parties like the BSP and the RJD – remember the famous slogan of the BSP – Tilak, Taraju aur Talwa: Inko maaro joote chaar?
   
5. Politicians of all hues and philosophies have been caught on air distributing cash – almost all of them have come up with ingenious excuses on account of tradition, ceremonies etc. Methinks, these are the next possible explanations for all peculiarities which afflict all our political parties:-
   

Crime	Justification
Booth rigging, Electoral Malpractices	Martial traditions of the larger Indian race – the BJP will go ahead and claim it to be true Bharatayita
Dynastic nepotism overshadowing democratic election of leaders in political parties	Close knit family culture in India – after all, even God Shiva entrusted the military command of the Divine Army to his own son, Karthikeya
No attempts at providing bijli/sadak to the long suffering people of their constituencies	Heightened levels of environmental consciousness – ensuring that electricity reaches to all corners of the country would mean commissioning even more thermal power plants, which means more burning of coal, leading to hideous consequences for the ecology; more roads will mean more of those obnoxious low-cost Nano cars will clog the roads – Shiva, Shiva
No attempts at ensuring the security of the Indian population	It contravenes Charles Darwin's axiom of Survival of the Fittest – those, that fall victims are simply obeying the laws of Nature
Humiliatingly agreeing that no Indian born leader is good enough to lead the oldest Indian party that led us to independence	Atithi Devoh Bhava – And if the foreigner is the God (Deva), then how can mere mortals hope to lead instead of the God?

They Flash upon that Inward Eye

I gazed – and gazed – but little thought

What wealth the show, to me had brought...

It's been more than a year, give or take a few days. And yet, I have never really done my heart's bidding – to have my meal at night, switch off all the lights and sit out on the ledge of the balcony of our 11^th floor apartment looking out over Croydon, London. To look down in silence over the glare of a city forever frothing with energy and gaze up at wondrousness at the expanse of a sky that seems contentedly becalmed.

Somehow, whenever I have stepped out, I have always looked down first – at the lights, shimmering all around in different shades; the myriad sounds that evoke a thousand confused connotations all at once; the cars, the buses & the pedestrians, all in an unseeming hurry to get somewhere - a collage of activity, energy, confusion, hurriedness.

And then, as if to set the mind at rest again and to soothe your soul, the eyes wander to the view above - to the ethereal serenity of the sky; the slow, but unerring trundle of the silver-lined grey clouds. The mind frees itself from the shackles of reality and wanders unhindered, into the realms of fantasy. Cotton balls floating around on a grey sea, dragon shaped monsters lining up in formation for a battle, serrations of a mountain range hanging upside down from the firmament – there arises, almost a childlike innocence in the vivid imaginations of the mind. Dozens and then with the passage of some more time, perhaps hundreds of the twinkling stars come into view, each assuming an identity of its own, if you peer at them hard enough – till you get oblivious to everything around you and that tiny speck of light far, far up there, seems to be the only thing that you can see. The silver glow of the moon creates a séance like atmosphere - It is fascinating – the feeling of being one in harmony with an unknown cosmic order at large.

And then a cold breeze blew and with a shudder, I realized that it has been almost an hour. As I switched on the lights again, I can almost hear myself groan. But, then every good thing has to be momentary, for us to recall it with pleasure.

 ..... For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my Heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the Daffodils

---------- William Wordsworth

A Talent Gone Waste

As Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor created an exquisite symphony on the benign track of MacLean Park in Napier and pummelled the Indian bowlers to all corners of the field, it made sense to remember that they have been playing together for a long, long time. Jesse and Ross are both from the Wairarapa region; have been friends since childhood and have been plying their trade together for Napier since their school days. And they had both been earmarked for further glory, right since their teens – though, they have taken diverse routes to the New Zealand senior team – Ross reaching there a couple of years earlier and staying thereafter as the poster boy of Kiwi cricket, while Jesse took a longer route and has been in the news for the wrong reasons more than the good.

Does this schoolboy friendship, dreams of playing for the country together turning into reality, different characters and yet firm friends; ring a bell for us Indians? Indeed, it reminds one of the extraordinary duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli. And more so, in a very poignant manner for somebody like me, who adored his style; it reminds us of probably, the greatest regret of Indian cricket in the modern era – Vinod Ganpat Kambli.

People, born and bred in the Mecca of Indian cricket – Mumbai – would have heard of Kambli much earlier than the rest of us, in India. A precocious talent since his early teens, he was 17 and Sachin, 16, when they put on a World Record partnership of 664 in a school match in Mumbai. Their fortunes somewhat diverged thereafter – while Sachin went on to make his India debut later in the same year, Kambli trudged on, unrewarded, in the domestic arena till he was called into the senior squad, 3 years after his friend – for the Test series against England in 1993 (he had made his ODI debut earlier – towards the end of 1991). But when he finally did take his place on a Test field, Vinod Ganpat Kambli had the kind of start to his Test career that budding cricketers can only see in their wildest dreams. A half century in his second Test was followed by a double century in the third and this was followed by another double century in his next Test innings. This lifted him among the elite group of Don Bradman and Walter Hammond as the only scorers of two double centuries in successive innings. In fact, his 224 against England came close to upsetting Sunil Gavaskar's then Test record of the highest score by an Indian (236) and involved a marathon 180 run partnership with Sachin Tendulkar for the 3^rd wicket.

Anybody who has watched that innings; either live at the Wankhede or on the television would never forget the supreme arrogance with which Kambli treated bowlers of the likes of Phil DeFreitas and John Emburey. Many would later say that this flamboyance would be his undoing, but when he was on song, Kambli could give even the likes of Sir Viv Richards or Brian Lara, a run for their money. Those twinkle-toed dances down the track to send the balls disappearing above the spinners' heads into the stands were simply breath-taking, as was the chewing gum nonchalance, which he had undoubtedly copied from the Caribbean maestros. Much before Sachin would torment Shane Warne in Sharjah, in the late nineties, Vinod Kambli would bludgeon him for 22 runs in an over in an ODI. In many ways, Vinod Kambli was more West Indies than west Indian J

Unfortunately, just as his rise was meteoric (4 centuries in his first 7 Test Innings), his fall was spectacular and sudden. He had always seemed a little suspect against quality pace and his flash to gully against anything aimed at his ribs proved to be his downfall. The West Indians led by Courtney Walsh had the measure of him in the 1994 – 95 Test series at home. The runs dried up but more devastatingly for Kambli, the swagger deserted him and his confidence was battered. He was never the same again and he would play just one more Test series before being dumped forever from the Test scene before he was even 24 years old. Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly emerged the next year to take away his middle-order position and though a series of comebacks to the ODI side happened right till 2000, Kambli had already been branded a 'had-been'. He made the news for all the wrong reasons – his razzmatazz lifestyle, flings with Bollywood beauties, his own acting aspirations, flashy clothes, missed practice and injuries – and soon, Kambli disappeared from even first class and Ranji games.

If you look back at his statistics, his average of more than 50 in Tests with 4 centuries and close to 3,000 runs in ODIs would be far more favourable than many international cricketers. But if you take a closer look at his first-class statistics – close to 10,000 runs @ an average of 60 with 35 centuries and then look at Sachin Tendulkar and see, how he has carried on for what seems like forever – it is then that you can't help but shake your head at Kambli's career and wonder, what could have been.

Perhaps, that infamous World Cup semi-final vs. Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens in 1996, when he unashamedly shed tears, summarises his career, the best.