Why Conservatives Absolutely Hate the U.S. This Year’s World Scrabble Champion Blew Everyone Away With a Three-Letter WordĪn Absurd Suspension Has Turned a Baseball Announcer Into an Accidental Martyr Simone Biles Just Shocked the Gymnastics World Again For David Foster Wallace, Federer’s meaning was tied up in “human beings’ reconciliation with having a body,” the way his brilliance, force, and grace “exposed the limits, and possibilities” both of men’s tennis and the self. Perhaps he symbolized old world continental European reticence and elegance, or the triumph of logos over pathos. Surely he could not simply be a goofy father of four who works very hard and doesn’t have a very complex inner life. Surely this brilliant athlete, this artist with the racquet, must have deeper, hidden meanings. His own controlled nature, the studied boringness of his answers in press conferences, and blank expression whether he was winning or losing, helped encourage this. He would later call it “one of the worst moments of my career.” What it really meant was that career’s end.ĭuring the period of Federer’s fleeting GOAThood, it was impossible not to read him as a symbol of one kind or another. It was one of only six times in Federer’s entire career that a player had kept him from winning a single game in a set. His real final match came last summer, when the talented Polish player Hubert Hurkacz crushed him in straight sets, winning the final one 6–0. Just watch it, at the 18-minute mark below.įederer’s retirement this past weekend-a deeply moving affair in which he played doubles with Nadal as his partner, and then held the Spaniard’s hand as both men cried while the arena paid him tribute-was largely symbolic. The crowd and sportscasters in the booth lose their minds. Federer patiently moves him as far off the court as he can before ending the point with an unreturnable forehand down the line. The tables have turned, Nadal is now on the defensive. Roger replies with a flat backhand so hard, and with such precision, that it cuts through the air, a lightning quick ball at a deadly sharp angle that no one other than Nadal could possibly retrieve. When his first shot to the backhand gets a soft return, Nadal hits his forehand much harder, and something shocking happens. The spin and aggression of Nadal’s forehand makes it very hard to return effectively one-handed, and Nadal uses that to either draw an error from Federer or to put himself in position to hit a winner. Traditionally, this has been how Nadal beats Federer. Nadal tries first, finally getting a ball he can hit to Federer’s one-handed backhand. The men begin trading rally balls, neutral shots to the center of the court that dare the other player to pounce. Federer hits a high, slow, deep arcing forehand to reset the point. The Spaniard is hitting the ball with everything he’s got while Federer flails to block it back. Nadal immediately has Federer on his heels. If Federer can win the next two points, he’ll serve for the championship. Now it’s 4 games to 3, and we’re at deuce, with Nadal serving. Despite all this, Federer has lasted into the fifth set and kept it competitive, ending points earlier at the net and taking the ball on the rise to deprive Nadal of needed reaction time. Nadal has long had the edge on Federer, and has even beaten him on his favorite surface of grass in what many feel is the greatest men’s tennis match of all time. But that’s not going to change anything happening on court. Nadal has also recently been out with injuries, and during both men’s time off the court, a friendship has begun to form that will only grow over the next four years. You could be forgiven for wondering if whatever Roger had left in the tank would be enough for the final, particularly since the man on the other side of the net is Rafael Nadal, a man known for grinding down his opponents until, punch-drunk and legless, they collapse under the onslaught of his spinning, lefty forehand. At 35, he’s one of the oldest players ever to make it to a Grand Slam final, and to get there he had to win grueling five setters against Kei Nishikori (in the fourth round) and Stan Wawrinka (in the semis). One does not normally enter a Grand Slam match after a long time off court with injuries and win many matches, but Federer, ranked outside of the top-15, had been doing just that for the past two weeks.
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