Roger Federer Wins Roland Garros 2009

In 1929, after the Wall Street Crash, we had the dominance of the Big Five Movie Companies: 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, RKO and Warner Bros.  These were Hollywood’s BIG FIVE. Hollywood wasn’t interested in art, it was interested in money and it has been said that the two rarely go together.

Federer is a work of art created for the cinema screen.  He is the Fred Astaire of the film industry. Graham Greene once described Fred Astaire as ‘the nearest approach we are ever likely to have to a human Mickey Mouse… he belongs to a fantasy world almost as free as Mickey’s from the law of gravity’. 

Hence Federer can dance like Fred Astaire on Court, can twist and turn with balletic finesse, can waltz cheek to cheek with the best of them.  Make no mistake.  Federer has been touched with greatness.

As was said of Astaire….'there were dancers…there were great dancers; and then there was Astaire: Well, there are tennis players, there are great tennis players and then there is Federer.  The man oozes class.

The 1930’s represented the Golden Age of the American Film Industry.  This was when the Hollywood studios were totally in control.  I think Federer is now more in control of his own game than ever before. Don’t get me wrong. I have had my own ‘Federer moments’ when I have hidden behind the sofa, or dropped my coffee everywhere when he has played an unbelievable shot.

Exactly, 80 years on from the silent movies, we have the reality of cinema screen in our living room - moving images in brilliant Sky HD!  In terms of tennis, we have many Oscar winning performances by Rafael Nadal, with the young guns Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin Del Potro’s on Nadal’s and Federer’s dinner jacket tails. 

With Del Potro’s performance in the semi final of the French Open, I think  he has earned his place so that the ‘Big Four’, should now be termed the ‘Big Five’ but for different reasons to the Hollywood era.  Del Potro showed that in order to try to beat Federer, nothing less than an Oscar winning performance would do which is why he was only nominated for one at the French Open this year.  May be next time?

Federer’s redemption in my view, (similar to Terry Gilliam’s ‘The Fisher King’, which was an elaborate, fantastical tale of guilt and redemption set in New York) began when he won the US Open in 2008.  He silenced the critics who said he would never win a grand slam again.  He then followed this with a win of a double Olympic gold at the Beijing Olympics.  

From then on, he has acquired more self belief in his own game only to display the emotion of a wounded animal at the Australian Open this year.  That ….broke my heart and I suspect every Federer fan around the world.

Looking at Roger Federer’s road to stardom, is well known and needs no repeating.  He is quite simply the Movie Star of the tennis world with his own class, style and grace matching Clark Gable, Cary Grant and Laurence Olivier  – the Emperors of the film industry. To win the French Open is the right result for Federer.

Someone once said that ‘passion is to be found in the most unexpected places’.  Federer for all the ups and downs of his game during the last 12 months has never wavered from his passion to win.  It is etched on the very initials sewn into his tennis shoe.

The Gold Rush was the film Charlie Chaplin would most likely be remembered for – a meek and mild character wrestling to hold his own among other prospectors.  There is no room for meekness nor mildness in Federer’s game or kingdom which has had him teetering on a precipice for a while and even now, he still hovers with uncertainty during moments in his matches but one thing that he has never failed to do is stop me in my tracks and when Federer is the underdog, he fights back with the might of a lion and the tenacity of a tiger.

When he gets written off by the so called experts of the tennis world, he lets his racquet do the talking. He quite simply plays beautiful and deeply emotional tennis. You could see this during the last game against Soderling at the French Open, third set 40:30 where Federer had to put his hand up to his face to stop the tears from flowing. True Grit. (I make no apologies here……I am a romantic).

Olivier once said ‘Good actors borrow, Great actors steal’. It may well be that some critics believe Federer ‘stole’ the French Open with the early demise of Nadal, Murray and Djokovic.  I don’t think so.  I believe he showed the grit needed to be a champion when faced with adversity, the true depth of his talent, the sharpness of his shots, but more than that, he showed what it takes to be the best. 

Whilst I recognise that Nadal is a great champion, and Murray a great tennis player ‘in waiting’…(sorry Murray fans)…until Rafa wins Multiple slams (excluding the French Open) and Murray even wins one as well as Djokovic defending one…I cannot view them in the same way as Federer.

When two sets down to love against Haas, and two sets down to one against an ‘on fire’ DelPotro, Federer could have crumbled, yet he chose to fight like Robert De Niro in Raging Bull. 

He was the slum kid who fought his way out of the Bronx to become middleweight boxing champion of the world.  Federer to me, captured the raw energy and focus needed to get out of a very difficult situation.  He turned out to be the consummate player of the French Open.

He was menacing in the latter part of the match against Del Potro, the tension only being emphasised by the ticking clock in my own mind.  Federer Danced with Wolves at Roland Garros, he had his Days of Thunder throughout the tournament and he certainly Silenced the Lambs when he lifted that trophy!  And to all those critics who thought Federer was history?  Shame on you!

One of Dickens best films was the 1946 classic ‘Great Expectations’.  That is exactly what I have of Federer to capture his next slam at Wimbledon.  As James Stewart said, ‘It’s a wonderful life!’.  I feel so fortunate to be able to watch this incredible athlete.