16 12 february 2018openings
tears of glory
R
oger Federer is welling up. And in a matter
of moments, he is about to have an emotional
breakdown. We know this because of history and
precedence; in the 19 grand slams he has won
before this one at the Australian open earlier this week,
Federer’s tears had told us just what the biggest trophies in
tennis, and tennis itself, meant to him on each occasion. so
why should No 20 be any different, especially given that no
man had ever reached this figure before?
Following the Australian open win last year—his least
expected slam win considering he hadn’t played competitive
tennis for six months and was seeded a lowly 17th then —
Federer wept immediately, on court and with his racquet veiling
his face, after his great rival rafael Nadal’s return shot flew wide
off the singles court. A few months later, when he won Wimble-
don for a record eighth time (No19 overall), Federer cried salty
tears only on seeing his two sets of twins appear in the royal Box
just before the presentation ceremony.
on January 28th this year, Federer spoke through a lump in
his throat and cried after the presentation. And immediately,
in real-time, fans compared his post-win emotions with earlier
ones. “did this feel like your first win in Wimbledon?” Jim Couri-
er, two-time Aussie open champion and a registered Federer nut,
asked the man of the moment in a TV studio. “No, man,” a laugh-
ing Federer replied. “This was a different emotional, clearly.” of
course it was; anyone who has invested the last two decades of
their lives watching Federer’s every teardrop will tell you that.
in 2003, when Federer beat Mark Philippoussis to win his
maiden grand slam trophy, sue Barker, Wimbledon’s in-house
presenter, plucked at his heart-strings until the 21-year old was
a wreck. “You’ve had so much support from back home and the
people here, what’s your message to them?” Barker had asked aNOTEBOOKREUTERS