The Cold Ghost - 1
Any doubts I may have entertained about the intensity of the flame burning inside the cool exterior of Roger Federer were pretty much extinguished last night, in the wake of that borderline epic win over Andy Roddick. I've been trying to find adjectives to describe properly the nature of Roddick's continuing determination to improve on what is now a 17-2 head-to-head record with Federer. Persistent? Biblical? Sisyphean? Dogged? Never-say-die? Delusional? Unquenchable?
None of them really seemed adequate. Has anyone short of Ahab been so hard to dislodge from the hunt, so hell-bent on navigating into the maw of almost certain doom without showing a twinge of doubt, hesitation, or even humility? Is there anything more, well, romantic than this degree of striving in a cause most would describe as dead in the water? It can't always be easy being Andy Roddick, but if you can't be Federer or Rafael Nadal, it may be the next best thing.
I know some of you just don't understand why I have such a high regard for Roddick (given his overall level of professionalism, I could give a hang about how he treats chair umpires or ball kids). Maybe that respect colored my view of the match last night, but the end result probably is something most fans who drink the Federer Kool-Aid may welcome. For the quality of Federer's win is related to the quality of the man he beat, and the circumstances under which he performed the feat. So, no, this post shouldn't be about Roddick and it isn't. Let's call this context, because it took real sand to survive the type of onslaught Roddick mounted last night. And Federer's courage has rarely been captured in as neat a snapshot as it was last night, with Roddick serving at 4-5 in the third. At that point, Federer struck like a viper and ended a rough and tumble, careening kind of match before most of the spectators here were finished filling in the thought bubble, Wow, what next?
The Cold Ghost - 2
Federer cut them off: There is no next. Deal with it. It was cold, but ice is often just as lethal as fire.
The performance was all the more impressive given that Roddick had a general but significant "home-court advantage." He was, after all, the American, playing to a (mostly) American crowd, not that far from where he spent a good portion of his life. The court was perhaps slower than Roddick would like, but let's remember that The Mighty Fed is no fast-court slouch. The less grit there is in a court, the lower the bounce, the lower the bounce, the more often the typical shot arrives right in a player's wheel-house. The word here is that the court isn't quite as "sticky" (read: gritty) as the ones in the desert. But Federer himself certainly was.
And you have this: what the court took from Roddick in sheer service speed it returned in a higher bounce on both serve and his more aggressive, topspin approach shots. This, at least in theory, makes it more difficult for the player trying to make a passing shot. In at least one significant way, Federer is a lot like Andre Agassi: the more he finds the ball in his wheel-house, the better he likes it. And Federer's basic service-return strategy can't exactly be called "aggressive." It's designed to get the ball back, even against a server as formidable as Roddick. And at that, it does a great job. Federer likes to get the ball back in play almost any old way, just to eliminate the advantage enjoyed by the server. Then he can get on with the game at which he excels, which is cat-and-mouse. Incidentally, this otherwise sound approach (for one as gifted as The Mighty Fed) hurts his cause against Nadal and even Andy Murray, but that's a story for another dau - and a job for the coach Federer would be well served hiring.
The performance was all the more impressive given that Roddick had a general but significant "home-court advantage." He was, after all, the American, playing to a (mostly) American crowd, not that far from where he spent a good portion of his life. The court was perhaps slower than Roddick would like, but let's remember that The Mighty Fed is no fast-court slouch. The less grit there is in a court, the lower the bounce, the lower the bounce, the more often the typical shot arrives right in a player's wheel-house. The word here is that the court isn't quite as "sticky" (read: gritty) as the ones in the desert. But Federer himself certainly was.
And you have this: what the court took from Roddick in sheer service speed it returned in a higher bounce on both serve and his more aggressive, topspin approach shots. This, at least in theory, makes it more difficult for the player trying to make a passing shot. In at least one significant way, Federer is a lot like Andre Agassi: the more he finds the ball in his wheel-house, the better he likes it. And Federer's basic service-return strategy can't exactly be called "aggressive." It's designed to get the ball back, even against a server as formidable as Roddick. And at that, it does a great job. Federer likes to get the ball back in play almost any old way, just to eliminate the advantage enjoyed by the server. Then he can get on with the game at which he excels, which is cat-and-mouse. Incidentally, this otherwise sound approach (for one as gifted as The Mighty Fed) hurts his cause against Nadal and even Andy Murray, but that's a story for another dau - and a job for the coach Federer would be well served hiring.
The Cold Ghost - 3
The clear and present danger posed by Roddick on this particular night was manifest. He's been on an upward arc, his determination and faith replenished by his relatively new coach, Larry Stefanki (as well as his terrific start to 2009). The Roddick gestalt was personified in the vocal and nearly violent support he got from Joey Porter. Now an all-pro linebacker with the Miami Dolphins, Porter made his name with the iconic team of rough-neck, lunch-bucket America, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Did anyone else find a smile creeping to his face at the sight of Porter's visceral, unbridled passion (He kept leaping into the aisle from his seat and bellowing encouragement, and the stockbroker due in the pink polo shirt nearby didn't do much grousing about it). What the cameras showed less frequently was Porter cringing, slumping in his seat, and dying a little bit whenever Roddick muffed a forehand, or watched a passing shot whizz by his outstretched racket. Is a little drama such a bad thing, even in as contemplative an enterprise as tennis spectating?
So, what if I told you that Roger Federer mixed it up with Joey Porter last night, and Federer. . .won.See what I mean about high praise for Roddick only adding to the glory of Federer?
Let'salso consider the obvious physical differences between the two men (and I don't mean Federer and Porter). Roddick is tall, rangy, intimidating; he's explosive, aggressive, confident and as fit and able a competitor as you'll find. That latter quality helps explain how a guy with a 2-16 record can carry himself as if he owns the guy on the other side of the net. Roddick has a knack for imposing himself on the court; he's got some swagger, and he's become a master at how he manifests it - walking the fine line between appearing a bully or a fighter. In a way, I Nadal also trades on this, and for the right rather than the wrong reasons: because he's a natural-born competitor. Of course, the big difference is that Nadal appears to be "in Federer's head," while Roddick does not.
So, what if I told you that Roger Federer mixed it up with Joey Porter last night, and Federer. . .won.See what I mean about high praise for Roddick only adding to the glory of Federer?
Let'salso consider the obvious physical differences between the two men (and I don't mean Federer and Porter). Roddick is tall, rangy, intimidating; he's explosive, aggressive, confident and as fit and able a competitor as you'll find. That latter quality helps explain how a guy with a 2-16 record can carry himself as if he owns the guy on the other side of the net. Roddick has a knack for imposing himself on the court; he's got some swagger, and he's become a master at how he manifests it - walking the fine line between appearing a bully or a fighter. In a way, I Nadal also trades on this, and for the right rather than the wrong reasons: because he's a natural-born competitor. Of course, the big difference is that Nadal appears to be "in Federer's head," while Roddick does not.
The Cold Ghost - 4
The sub-text is that TMF is ever-so-slightly vulnerable to players who project the attitude that they may be beaten, but never mentally whipped.
Federer, partly because he's (comparatively) slight, walks as if he's made of air, and he has a left arm that's roughly the diameter of a No. 2 lead pencil. His presence, at times, is borderline ghostly. If you knew nothing about the players, you could have been forgiven for thinking that the little guy with the skinny arms, while swift, graceful, clever and game, had the odds badly stacked against him. Inevitably, the big guy might find a way to herd him into the corner, and then you'd want to turn your face away rather than witness what came next. That Roddick was better than that - more than the bully trying line-up his victim for a knockout, was a tribute to his improved game. That Federer could shoulder the load represented by a better but no less imposing Roddick revealed the depth of his skill and nerve. That's the thing about TMF - at his best, he doesn't just glide across the tarmac, he glides above it. As tennis as in boxing, you've got to be able to catch a guy in order to hurt him. An explosive, 6-2 pillar of testosterone is a dangerous thing. But so is a cold ghost.
So, was TMF at his best last night? By my lights he was, and I heard those ugly unforced error numbers as often as you did. Y'all know my feelings about such things by now; in the big moments, it's not about the Xs and Os; larger forces shape those statistic and numbers, and bigger the occasion the more intrusively they shape it. You could argue that this wasn't truly a "big moment" in the grand scheme of things, but to me it was. Granted, this was a best of three match and a mere 1000 Masters Series event, not a Grand Slam. But everything Federer was not in the fifth set of his recent Australian Open final against Nadal, he was late in the third and decisive set against Roddick yesterday.
As Federer said after the match, "I almost, you know, lost the match there for a second when I was down a couple of break points in the third set. You know, I was - this is the type of matches exactly that I need right now, you know, in this part of the season. When I get through those kind of tough matches, sometimes I go on to win the tournament and I don't never look b ack. I hope that's what's going to happen right now.'
Does anyone else notice the odd combination of boast and hope in those words - or how TMF appended that qualifying phrase. . . in this part of the season? I'd say that these kinds of matches is what TMF needs for the rest of his career, because he's going to have them, and it's always better to find the flame growning stronger rather than weaker as the battle hurtles toward conclusion.
Federer, partly because he's (comparatively) slight, walks as if he's made of air, and he has a left arm that's roughly the diameter of a No. 2 lead pencil. His presence, at times, is borderline ghostly. If you knew nothing about the players, you could have been forgiven for thinking that the little guy with the skinny arms, while swift, graceful, clever and game, had the odds badly stacked against him. Inevitably, the big guy might find a way to herd him into the corner, and then you'd want to turn your face away rather than witness what came next. That Roddick was better than that - more than the bully trying line-up his victim for a knockout, was a tribute to his improved game. That Federer could shoulder the load represented by a better but no less imposing Roddick revealed the depth of his skill and nerve. That's the thing about TMF - at his best, he doesn't just glide across the tarmac, he glides above it. As tennis as in boxing, you've got to be able to catch a guy in order to hurt him. An explosive, 6-2 pillar of testosterone is a dangerous thing. But so is a cold ghost.
So, was TMF at his best last night? By my lights he was, and I heard those ugly unforced error numbers as often as you did. Y'all know my feelings about such things by now; in the big moments, it's not about the Xs and Os; larger forces shape those statistic and numbers, and bigger the occasion the more intrusively they shape it. You could argue that this wasn't truly a "big moment" in the grand scheme of things, but to me it was. Granted, this was a best of three match and a mere 1000 Masters Series event, not a Grand Slam. But everything Federer was not in the fifth set of his recent Australian Open final against Nadal, he was late in the third and decisive set against Roddick yesterday.
The Cold Ghost - 5
This match will do TMF far more good than if he had served 76 per cent, committed fewer than 10 unforced errors, and run away with it, two-and-four.As Federer said after the match, "I almost, you know, lost the match there for a second when I was down a couple of break points in the third set. You know, I was - this is the type of matches exactly that I need right now, you know, in this part of the season. When I get through those kind of tough matches, sometimes I go on to win the tournament and I don't never look b ack. I hope that's what's going to happen right now.'
Does anyone else notice the odd combination of boast and hope in those words - or how TMF appended that qualifying phrase. . . in this part of the season? I'd say that these kinds of matches is what TMF needs for the rest of his career, because he's going to have them, and it's always better to find the flame growning stronger rather than weaker as the battle hurtles toward conclusion.
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