Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal: Federer Senses Conspiracy With Surface Speeds

Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about surface speeds, clay courts and the rise of one-dimensional players. This was set off by remarks made by Roger Federer at different interviews.

The current conditions and surfaces obviously favor Federer. He has won 16 Grand Slam titles within the ridiculously short period of six-and-a-half years. Just imagine if two of the surfaces had been clay. Nadal might have won 14 Grand Slam titles and Federer's tally may not have exceeded 11.

One would expect Federer to be happy with the current serendipitous state of affairs, with three of the surfaces favoring him and thus heavily loading the dice against his rival. But, no, he claims the surface speeds have now been slowed to the advantage of Nadal. Should a player of his class be complaining that current conditions favor his rival? Aren't the players expected to play with the conditions as given? 

But the curious part of this story is that, except for the Australian Open, which admitted to changing the surface in 2008, none of the other Grand Slam tournaments have admitted making any changes in surface speeds since 2001. So, if Federer is right, why are the tournaments concealing this change? Clearly, Federer suspects a conspiracy.

Whenever there is a conspiracy, you would expect to find big money behind it. 

The big sponsors are backing Federer. They make tons of money if the Federer brand is enhanced. For instance, at the 2009 Australian Open, all the sponsors, broadcasters and tournament representatives were devastated when Federer did not win. Everything had been kept ready for the historic moment when Federer would match Pete Sampras' record. As Federer rightly said, it was a tragedy for everybody.

At the betting sites too, most of the money has been backing Federer. 

So big money backing any conspiracy against Federer doesn't make any sense.

The tournament directors, too, have had a vested interest in Federer winning, as they could get more sponsors, more viewers, more money from sale of broadcasting rights, etc. Federer has been the golden boy of tennis, pampered and favored by the tournament officials. When, for instance, Wimbledon matches suffered delays because of rain, everybody, including Nadal, were herded into inconvenient schedules except for Federer, whose convenience was given priority. Why would the tournament directors fall into the vile schemes of conspirators to kill the goose which lays the golden eggs and plot to change conditions to suit his rival? Doesn't make sense.

Yet, clearly, Federer suspects a conspiracy and by making public announcements, he has let the conspirators know that he is on to their game. So whom could he be suspecting?

After giving the matter much thought, I think he suspects the ghosts of Greatest of All Time (GOAT) contenders of the past, present and the future. 

In 2005, when he was ready to complete the career slam and start piling up a mind-boggling number of calendar slams and be on his way to being recognized as the undisputed GOAT, what happened? A lad turned up excelling on the one surface Federer needed to conquer to achieve his goals. A coincidence? Federer must then have realized that there was a nefarious conspiracy afoot and Nadal was the creation of this vile group. He resigned himself to this fact and took comfort in knowing that this creature of the horrendous conspiracy was just, by his own admission, a clay-courter. All seemed peaceful with the division of territory between Federer and this product of the conspirators.

However, he had underestimated the vileness and the power of the plotters. Not content with depriving him of calendar slams, they then entered the minds of the officials of the Grand Slam tournaments and brainwashed them to slow down all the surfaces so that the clay court creature of the conspiracy could force Federer off his favored surfaces. Federer fears that Nadal may unseat him as the best player of this era.

Is Federer helpless against the power of the ghosts? No, Federer, too, has a powerful weapon: His millions of fans. Through his several cleverly worded interviews, he has launched this weapon. The adoring army of fans has understood that Federer is a great sportsman and he is not complaining that the "ridiculous" slowing down of the surfaces is suiting his rival. He is complaining that, though this might suit Nadal (message conveyed to conspirators to let them know he is on to their game), it is ruining the game by encouraging the rise of one-dimensional players (message conveyed to fans by use of words like "ridiculous").

Who will win? The minds of more than four million fans against the ghosts of the GOAT contenders of the past, present and the future, who may number in the hundreds at the most. Let us wait and see.