Confessions Of a Non-Roger Federer Fan

There are players to be found in all sorts of sports, who dominate and build a legacy of their own. These players who are so dominant over their craft fall broadly into two categories of sports, namely team sports and individual sports.

If a player is exceptional in a team sport like baseball, football or cricket they spend their days of limelight in the public. When players like Michael Jordan, David Beckham or Sachin Tendulkar are performing, it is the team as a whole that is winning and less so the individual.

The performance of the team hinges on that particular person on that day and therefore the result does too.

When one talks about individual sport like tennis, boxing, golf or cycling the performance narrows down to that individual.

A Roger Federer, Muhammad Ali, Tiger Woods or Lance Armstrong makes a name for them self because their performance is entirely dependent on their own self ability and the exceptional talent that they've possessed and nurtured in the process.

They are bound to get their fair share of recognition and will be quoted as examples, like the legends in team sports, because they appear as if they had mastered their craft. They will have a God-like aura when they are on the field and unless a devil comes and knocks them off their perch, they seem invincible.

While these legends master their craft and exhibit their God gifted talent to their opponents, making mockery of their skills, they also make winning look easy.

A certain Roger Federer makes it look ridiculously easy because of his exceptional talent, motivation, training and the hard yards which he has put in to reach this stage.

And thus he commands millions of fans across the globe expecting him to win every point he constructs on the field, drilling forehands with laser like precision.

Everyone is struck with awe when one gets to see a display of tennis which was unthinkable before. Even his haters would admire his game and study the footage to train their upcoming kids on how to play the game effortlessly.

There are opponents and commentators who admire his skill but wish to see him defeated and bring his dominance to an end. Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray have had their fair share of victories and in the process made Federer look human.

They earned fans not because of their game. It is because they were primarily responsible in giving the God-like phenomenon a fight. They were fearless and are the few ones who tasted victory over the mighty Federer. They are not like players such as Filippo Volandri or Guillermo Canas who enjoyed a one-off victory and promptly disappeared.

Nadal, Djokovic, and Murray played fantastic tennis and held their nerve to notch victories over Federer. There are also eternal triers like Roddick, Blake, Hewitt, Soderling, and Robredo, to name a few, who give their heart and soul into the match but, more often than not, end up on the losing side.

So are the gutted fans supporting anyone not named Federer? These players and fans after their initial admiration, would reach a stage where they begin to dislike the most efficient player in that craft the world has ever seen. It is purely because the phenomenon who has turned into a monster, who is not giving any one else a chance to win.

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