tennis is about chaos and order. to be a fan is to subject oneself to the tortures of chaos and the bliss of order. the life of a tennis fan is centered on a tennis hero. my hero's roger federer. i have sort of proto-heroes before roger: guga (can't win a non-clay slam), patrick rafter (too good, and the shirt size), marat safin (genius, but). then wimbledon, 2001. a swiss kid beat the mighty pete sampras in the fourth round. that win is not only material, it is also very symbolic. during the next years that kid started breaking records. tennis fans were quick to revise their assumption that sampras is the best player ever. welcome to the age of roger federer.
today, of course, we're living in that phase they call the changing of the guards. roger's 26, which would make him kind of past his prime. he has won 12 majors already. the thirteenth should have been an australian open crown this year. he lost in the semis. a new kid from serbia beat him. call me sore but i believe the mono story, haha. roger was sick. no one beats him like that.
roger started losing matches after that, which would validate the ailment non-excuse. these observations of chaos are not entirely centered on fed. there was a time when tournaments were won only by either roger federer or rafael nadal. this year these two kept losing to, well, lesser players. then last week, roger won a claycourt title, his first for the season. his opponent retired. could this mark the restoration of order in the tennis world? and just last night, federer and nadal booked their places in a tourney final.
their matches could not have been more, erm, portent-ious. nadal beat nikolay davydenko, who beat him in last month's masters (was it in miami?). federer was trashing novak djokovic when, quite expectedly, the serb retired. breathing problems. we've heard that story before. if you don't know how to handle losses, quit the sport kid. as we're on the subject of portents, nadal wins the final. i'm back to being a federer groupie, but i'm also more realistic now (realistic and superstitious). no one beats nadal on clay. federer did last year, but that was hamburg. at least there's the comfort of order restored.
several hours after. you don't learn! i have actual superpowers! i accurately predicted the outcome of the monte carlo final between roger federer and rafael nadal. nah, it was easy. we all know no amount of coaching would change roger. he'll always be that graceful, beautiful, intelligent player. he must win a few more wimby titles, to compensate for all the french losses (past and future). hay, roger federer. one last appeal. please. don't be a saint, kill your opponents out there! we all know you value aesthetics. but try and play ugly sometimes. we need roland garros.
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