I will be the only one who says that Roger was the first winner I cheered for. Being a fan of a consistent winner wasn't much of an option when I was a kid in Chicago. Everything is turning, turning, turning. A sports fan recoils from any force that is powerful. The Niners, Yankees, and Wings were boring because they won. When jealousy and boredom washed over them, it was impossible to appreciate all the parts that went into making them the historic champion they were.
The dynasty that did come from home was the Bulls. At a time when I was sinking into a teenage punk rock phase, they rose to greatness and history. It was easy to revile the crowd the Bulls drew, all of which were represented by Gene Siskel. Among the best two hours of my life were those where Shawn Kemp was traded to the Bulls for Scottie Pippen, so I wanted to say it to those I didn't know much about. It's better for the Bulls.
It was the same thing as tennis. Pete Sampras was an all-time great but didn't rise above the monotony of watching the same guy win all the time Part of that was personal, as Sampras wiped my first sports crush off the scene, Boris Becker. The accomplishments of Sampras were jaw-dropping at the time, but I can't remember how he got there. The journey wasn't amazing.
It all changed in 2004, when the world came to the attention of the world's greatest tennis player. Boxing and tennis are about styles. What a player does is as important as what he does not do. The serve-and-volleyers were identified by their names. The returner was Agassi. The dour Agassi. There was a group of players who were just a sonic boom of a serve. They only mattered during the French Open. I didn't have time to watch them grind through four sets on clay, but I did watch them. Every spring, I enjoy doing that.
He had everything. He was able to do whatever he wanted. Even though he was trying to incorporate so much into his game, it was nearly impossible for him to harness it. There were a lot of variables that could go wrong. The man was herding cats.
He did until then. It looked very different come Wimbledon 2004. He had more time to choose a shot than everyone else. Through a combination of instincts, ballet-like movement, and his control of every point, it looked like he could pull up a BarcelonaLounger before every shot to figure out what of the many arrows in his quiver he was going to choose that time
I stopped playing tennis for a long time, but still enjoyed it with my father, who was a big fan of the sport. I immediately fell in love with the man. He wanted it to be a jai alai cesta instead of a racket because of the way his forehand looked. The one-handed backhand was used to whip up the line or cross court. The serves were hitting their spots. The volleys were found on the court and died of exhaustion.
I was a fan of Roger because I always wanted to see more. It was obvious from the beginning that you wanted to see a lot of it. He had a 95-5 record in 2006 I would have wanted 150-0, as the previous two years he went 74-6 and 81-4, meaning he won 243 matches out of 260.
The sensation is that someone took the sport by force when they rise to such a level of dominance. They were grabbing the game by the throat when Messi slalomed through half a team with the ball. No one had been able to bend it to their will.
It felt like he said tennis to heel like the most obedient and loyal dog who had just gotten rambunctious as the sight of guests. It always came back to his feet and looked at him in the eye anticipating what would happen. Tennis was paying close attention to Roger.
I think the biggest compliment I can give to the man is that he pushed me back onto the court for the first time since I was a kid. Maybe I was in the same system as him, even if I was on a moon out on the outer rim. With time and practice, I might be able to feel what it was like to hit a ball so crisply or to play a point as it was meant to be played. It's just once. One serve out wide from the ad court, and taking the weak return back up the line with an inside-in forehand that I've seen Fed do a thousand times. To get the game to stop on the lowest level. It might be a good idea to appreciate even more how the two sports are intertwined.
The fact that he is the greatest ever won't stay with him. The records against him will do the job. It feels like they were able to take the game by force. A roar in their game can be exciting. They almost always win when they are fighting with tennis.
He was always in agreement with it. Even if he changed what was understood and natural about it, it was still willing to give itself to him. He will go down as everyone's favorite even though he may not be the best. As one of tennis's favorites.
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