Roger Federer: Tennis Can Be Cruel

Tennis is the sport of gladiators. 

Two players, using their weapon of choice, aim to systematically dismantle the other over the course of a best-of-five match. It can be fascinating to watch, as each player rises to the occasion.

But it can also be cruel.

There is no draw in tennis, and usually no round-robin. There is nowhere to hide. If you lose, you are out of the tournament. And it can be particularly galling if you have gotten used to four years of unprecedented success, with people calling you a living legend of the sport. It can make you want to scream and destroy your racket when you can no longer get into finals with sheer force of will, when you are forced to admit there are players now better than you.

I am a big Roger Federer fan, and I still think he will eventually hold the all-time Grand Slam record. But whereas I used to think he would eventually win 19-20 titles, now I think it will be more like 15. That's right: two more titles before Federer eventually calls it a day in the next three years.

In many ways, he is a victim of his own success. We only think his fall is great now because his success was incredible. Almost any other player would be grateful for Federer's start to 2009 (Grand Slam final, two Masters semifinals). But we hold Federer to a different standard. He, who owned an 83-4 record in 2007. He, who at one stage won 24 consecutive finals.

But that era is over. Nadal, Murray, and even Djokovic have all gotten the better of Federer in recent times, and are all in their early 20s, with their tennis prime arguably still ahead of them. They have figured out how to play Federer, and how to beat him.

And Federer, sadly, has not responded well to the challenge so far. That is what immense success can do to a person. It can make him rigid, and continue with what has served him well, but which no longer quite works.

Federer is still without a full-time coach, and still bereft of ideas as to how to beat Nadal or Murray. Yes, he has been close many times, but as they say, a miss is as good as a mile. Maybe it has become a mental thing with him as well. If that is so, then get a sports psychologist, Roger!

Federer is too proud, and too much of a champion, to allow us to witness his continued decline. And that is why, unless things turn around, I believe he will hang up his racket by the relatively young age of 31.

As fans, we should continue to encourage Federer, while savouring the growing talents of Nadal and Murray. That is, until the next giant-slayer appears on the tennis scene.

Such is the cruel cycle of life on the tennis circuit.