Nobody expected greatness from Roger Federer—even in Switzerland. When
he first appeared on the scene, he was overshadowed by the success of Hingis,
who just became a major force in women’s tennis. When he was on his way to
becoming the world’s best junior, Hingis, his senior by just 312 days, was
already at her zenith. She won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments in 1997
and took center stage—especially in Switzerland. Why should one be at all
concerned about Federer, a talented junior with an uncertain future, when
Switzerland had the current No. 1 ranked woman in the world?
This book chronicles the life and
times of (The Great) Roger Federer, taking off right from when he was a little
Swiss kid dabbling in tennis & football (& a variety of other ball
sports), paying a lot of attention to his formative years (you know, an angry-young-man’s-racquet-smashing
days) and finally landing in his glory days (when he became the Champion that
he is, with the tennis world lying conquered at his nimble feet).
“One should just be able to play a perfect game.” (- said by a
15-year-old Federer) Playing a perfect game—that’s what motivated him. He
didn’t want to just defeat opponents and win trophies, even if he liked the
idea of becoming rich and famous or both, as he admitted. For him,
instinctively, the journey was the reward and the journey involved hitting and
placing balls with his racquet as perfectly as possible. He seemed to be
obsessed with this, which would explain why he could become frustrated even
after winning points. He didn’t want to dominate his opponent in this rectangle
with the net that fascinated him—he wanted to dominate the ball that he both
hated and loved.
Stauffer’s book also contains jems
like -
“He has so much potential that it sometimes confuses even himself,” said
John McEnroe, himself, a one-time artist with the tennis ball. (towards the end
of 2000)
The New York
Post meanwhile called out any critics who insisted that
Federer’s dominance of the sport could make tennis boring. The tabloid wrote in
2005 that “Roger Federer can win eight of the next 10 Slam finals, reach the
semifinals of all the rest, and if Who and When at every tournament becomes
inevitable, the How will remain captivating. We will watch it, in mesmerized fatalism.”
The only thing that can perhaps be
called a let-downer in this book is that fact that it portrays Federer’s tennis
career only till the end of 2006, but then again considering that that is when
the book was penned, it’s unrealistic to expect more.
We
however, the till-death-do-us-part fans of the immortal Roger Federer, know
that our Champion will always keep us going “How on earth does he do that?”
every time he pulls off one of those miraculous stokes of genius that only he
can pull off. And make it look ridiculously easy at that.
After
all, as the legendary Jimmy Connors said to the BBC in 2006, “[In the modern game], you’re a clay court specialist, a grass court
specialist or a hard court specialist ... or you’re Roger Federer.”
