With the Turkish Formula 1 GP underway and the French Open final at 9pm, sporting fever is high in our household. While hubby and I are big F1 fans, it’s the showdown between Roger Federer and Robin Soderling, of course, that’s got us all jittery. As a self-proclaimed Federer die-hard fan – and indeed it is impossible to have a reasonable and unbiased conversation about Roger Federer with him – hubby has threatened melodramatics if the Swiss ace doesn’t lift the trophy tonight.
Me, I’m torn between wanting one of the biggest upsets in French Open history and seeing Federer cement his place as one of the sport’s greatest of all time. But I don’t want to see hubby sad (aren’t I the softie?) and to be honest, Federer deserves this. He’s been so close too many times and despite all my reservations about the guy, he truly is one of the greatest, most talented and most graceful of all time.
He deserves it. And so I’ll be rooting for him tonight. Even though I once walked right up to him and asked him for an autograph and he conveniently turned away though I was the only person there. Even though I’ve seen him disappoint local fans by deliberately avoiding them after a match though it was the exhibition match between him and Pete Sampras in KL two years ago and if you didn’t accept the invitation to please the fans (and pocket the money) then really, why did you bother? Even though he was far more obliging to the foreign fans and managed just the bare minimum when it came to the locals and the thought did cross my mind that he’s a snob.
So yes, despite all that, I will feel sorry for Roger Federer if he doesn’t win the French Open tonight. Even though that will make him greater than my all-time favourite tennis player Andre Agassi. Just don’t tell me he’s the nicest guy on court. He’s polite, he does interviews in three languages, he can be witty when he likes and I totally get why the press is so in love with him. But no. Nice is Rafael Nadal comforting Federer when the former took the Australian Open early this year. That’s nice. I’m not exactly a die-hard Rafa fan either, but I can’t help wondering if maybe he isn’t as popular with the media because he doesn’t speak the best English. He also doesn’t make excuses when he loses and (so far) hasn’t come across arrogant despite his success. And that’s really nice.
Gosh, I so hope Agassi is nice.
Federer won and he is not tied with Sampras for the title :) why dont you like Federer?? maybe he was having a bad day when he was in KL…. :)
He has tied with Sampras and at the rate he’s going he should be able to take one or two more majors. I greatly admire him as a tennis player, I just think the media has an unfair bias towards him.
typo. sorry. he has tied with sampras for the title :)