The A game

A man brought his grandson first time to the tennis court and it turned out to be a match between two of the players of which one of those was known across the world in every household. His grandson, seeing the game for the first time ever, with very much curiosity inquired his grandpa thus: “Grandpa, Two players are playing this game here. One is playing left handed and the other is playing right handed. One is using two hands to hit the ball when the ball is landing on to his right side but the other player is hitting the ball with only one hand wherever the ball lands. What sort of game is this grandpa? I can’t understand?”

Grandpa was calmly listening to the boy and before he could answer one more question awaited him. The boy further asked his grandpa “ Grandpa, what are the name of these two players? The left handed player is unable to collect the balls hit by the right hander and on the other hand whichever direction the ball was hit this right handed player is able to collect. How is this grandpa? One person is playing so well and the other, I think is not able to cope up with him. This is the first time I am watching this game but still I seem to like this right handed player’s game so much. Am I right grandpa? In this brief period, I think if I have to learn this game I need to see this right handed player play the game. This is what I think.  I think there will be no other player in this game, I guess, who can match the beauty of the game I am seeing from this right hander. Is it right grandpa?”

Having listened patiently to whatever questions his grandson asked him, the man replied to his grandson with a smile on his face. “My dear grandson, you are right. I am very happy to hear that you want to learn seeing this right hander play. If you do, then you will also become one of the great players on planet earth just like this guy who is about to win this match in a short time now.  My dear son, he is the guy who is referred to as the “GOAT” of the game. I mean he is known and revered by everybody as the “Greatest player of all times”. His name is Roger Federer and he is called also as “Swiss Maestro” as he belongs to the country of Switzerland. The left hander who is playing against him is Rafael Nadal from Spain. The winner of this game is surely to reach the semi fnals of this tournament which is called ÄTP world tour finals. My dear Grandson, you were asking me as to why you feel this right hander is playing so well as compared to this left hander. Well son, it is not his fault. When Roger Federer plays tennis against anybody, no one would like to watch the other guy’s game who is pitted against him. No matter who ever plays against Federer, you will get the feeling that the other guy is not capable of playing this game” This was the reply given by this man to his grandson.

Such is the greatness of Roger Federer who destroyed Rafa by producing the game of tennis which the latter would never forget in his life time. Just like Shane Warne, who after bowling to Sachin Tendulkar, reportedly told the world that he got night mares of Sachin while sleeping, from now on I would be surprised if Rafa does not get any such night mares of Federer. Infact I would say if he gets to see Federer playing the game in his dream it would rather be relished by him, I believe and so cannot be termed as a night mare.

After all, it was the day Nadal saw the “Ä” game of Federer. Federer amassed as much as 28 winners in yesterday’s game and lost only three games overall. What happens when Federer brings his “Ä” game is what the whole world saw in London and for Nadal it was nothing short of a night marish experience. When Federer comes with his full strength and plays all the shots that he possess, this is what happens. Rafa becomes a mute spectator. Rafa does not figure out where the ball is going to land. Rafa cannot come up with any of the shots which will become a winner against the GOAT. Rafa  runs here and there only to find the other person covering the court without running that much. Rafa panics. Rafa hits unforced errors. Rafa hits the balls which lands outside the baseline. Rafa hits the balls straight at the nets. This was the scenario that I witnessed yesterday.

Leave alone Rafa, who only had hit 4 winners yesterday in his match against Federer, this was the situation in which most of the players would have found themselves in if they had to see Roger Federer standing at the other side of the net. So, we can have just a spare of thought for Rafa.

As far as playing this game, Federer is a real wizard. He does things with racquets which no other person would have even dreamt. He creates angles which are simply out of world tennis. You will not be able to guess what he is attempting when you are playing against him for he would switch over immediately from fore hand to back hand and vice versa. Even with those shots, he does unbelievable things. He has more variety in shot making than anyone else. You won’t find him playing from the baseline all the time unlike many of his contemporaries. He will be at the baseline sometime, will proceed to the nets sometime, will stand between the baseline and nets some time and produce some incredible shots which were never viewed in the game by anyone.

The magic, he creates, is simply phenomenal. You will feel as if you cannot create a winner from a certain position but he will come up with a shot which you would not have even imagined. No wonder John Mcenroe once commented form the box “How he is creating such an angle?”  There are many remarkable shots in his repertoire which he produces with astounding ease and to be able to do such a thing from a position where you cannot think so much since tennis is one of the busiest games where you have to keep on running, is something astonishing, to say the least.

Roger has won so far 804 matches with only 186 losses in his entire career so far and only those losses still make us believe that he is human. The sort of game he used to play during his peak period between 2004 and 2007 has started to rise after a little decline for sometime.

The genius of the game is now showing his true potential which means its “game over” for the rest of the players.