Can Roger Federer Become King of the Mountain Again?

Fall 2008.  These are days you awaken feeling strangely uneasy, unsettled—not quite sure whether what you’re sensing is the result of a disturbing dream or a replica of reordered reality.  Then, it hits you full force as you feint your way through the early morning fog…

Roger Federer is no longer the ATP No. 1 player.   Steady now, it had to happen one day, you remind yourself.

You whisper…Roger Federer—World No. 2…hard to say and even more difficult to swallow.  Definitely, it is not welcomed, even though inevitable—like birth and death. It is akin to being dumped by your soul mate after 4½ years of a torrid romance.

The lingering loss stuns your soul—like dropping the baton during the anchor exchange of the 4 x 100 when you’re leading—like rain and darkness interrupting play on Centre Court when you have momentum— like being forced to watch never-ending commentary by Brad Gilbert as he describes with orgasmic delight the propensities of Nadal: the man and his game…

But now is not the time to find nobility in stepping aside.  Now is the time to gird your loins and mercilessly battle to survive as tennis king of the mountain.  Being second will never be good enough for Roger…he fought his way to the top before and once there, made sure he stayed 4½ years. 

He will scale the heights again and claim that prized No. 1 ranking, because it is there and it represents a challenge!

Rafa fought like a demented matador to overtake Roger, because the record books will never be kind to someone who was never ranked No. 1!

Even though Rafa reiterated that he was perfectly content as No. 2—that Roger was the best ever and always the player to beat—it had to have eaten away at his inspired Hispanic heart to play second fiddle to a man he defeated regularly. 

Nadal was No. 2 for over three years and felt time was slipping away from him.  There were other younger players nipping at his sore knees, breathing down his neck, and endangering his hold as one of two at the top. 

Early in 2008, Nadal wasn’t exactly scorching up the tennis courts with his hard court campaign! The pundits were already touting Novak Djokovic as the new No. 2 man.

Nadal and his camp feared that there could be problems ahead with his physical well-being.  2008 became a now-or never campaign when they discovered—lo and behold—King Federer was wounded and vulnerable.  There was finally light at the end of a long, tortuous tunnel.

Once Nadal scrambled gratefully into the 2008 clay season, barely clinging to his No. 2 ranking, he began pouring it on.  He beat back Djokovic and refused to allow Federer a single victory against him—not even a moral one.  He humiliated his vaunted Swiss rival at the 2008 French Open final. 

He carried this blistering blitzkrieg campaign onto the grass, finally crushing Federer at his beloved Wimbledon. 

The Wimbledon victory represented the ultimate triumph for Nadal on a surface most said he would never master.  Federer was humbled, devastated by the enormity of his losses. 

A lesser champion would have caved, curled up like burnt parchment, under the pressure and the proportion of his defeats.  While the media was busy writing him off, Federer persevered.

The blows continued throughout the summer…the assault unassailable. 

Although one of Roger’s best surfaces, hard courts are the most unforgiving—timing off just a little will be accentuated on this surface.   Unfortunately for Roger—he lacked time to fine-tune his hard-court game early on in the summer of 2008. 

He met a “hot” Giles Simon in Toronto and an on-fire Karlovic in Cincinnati.  After months of gallant struggling, those unexpected losses finally cost him his No. 1 ranking.

But Nadal, in capturing the elusive No. 1 spot, played a great deal on hard courts—a surface that hurts him—especially his knees. 

Starting with the clay court season, Nadal who went for broke in 2008, was unrelenting, unbeaten except for his Cincinnati loss against Djokovic and his US Open semi-final loss to Murray.  He won in Toronto and also won the Gold Medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics for men’s singles.

Roger, on the other hand, staggered by his loss in Beijing to Blake in men’s singles, came back to win the Olympic Gold medal in doubles with his partner and fellow countryman Stanislav Wawrinka. The win re-energized him.

Filled with confidence and against all odds, Federer won his fifth consecutive U.S. Open Championship in September 2008, silencing his varied and vocal critics.  He captured his 13th Grand Slam victory and put an exclamation point on his return to glory by helping Switzerland defeat Belgium in the Davis Cup.

Today he considers himself in great shape—fully recovered from his illness and with no tape on his knees!  He is training hard.  He is motivated! 

Gentleman that he is, Roger congratulated Rafa on his well-deserved No. 1 ranking in August when Nadal scaled the summit.  Competitor that he is, Roger will soon begin an all-out campaign to take the No. 1 mantle back.

Let’s face facts; Roger doesn’t need the money.  He has made over $40 million during his career.  For most of us, that’s like having to work full time for [oh, say] a thousand years!!  Roger plays for pride, for the records and for the honor it gives him.   Moreover, he loves the game!  Roger is tennis.  It completes him.  It gives him definition and purpose.

He will not stay down for long, because he knows how to win—Roger understands what it will take and he will fight his way to the mountain top.  It may be a bumpy ride. But he is used to it.  During most of 2008 he suffered enough agony of defeat to last him a lifetime!

In 2009, it will be time again for the many thrills of victory, starting in the land down under!