Tennis Champion Roger Federer falls in U.S. Open
Uncategorized Tagged Federer, Friedman No Comments »He’s won more grand slam titles than any other male tennis player in the history of the sport. With so many victories, why do we still hate to see Roger Federer lose? My opinion: Because he isn’t simply a great champion, he’s a likeable champion.
In the recent US Open men’s finals at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York, the crowd responded to the match before them with sounds of awe. The reason? Twenty year-old Argentine Juan Martin del Potro was giving the World’s Number-1 ranked Federer one hell of a fight. The day before, del Potro had defeated the World Ranked Number-2 Rafael Nadal in the Men’s Semi-Finals. But nobody, except for perhaps del Potro, expected him to take down the great Federer.
In the first set, del Potro fell to the superstar 3 games to 6. It seemed as though it would be a typical Federer vs. “the Newbie” day: game, set, match. In the second set, however, the battle began. An unexpected fire in del Potro arose, and Federer looked nearly as stunned as the audience.
I have watched Federer win some easy matches and some tough matches, such as the not-so-distant Wimbledon against American great Andy Roddick. Yet his matches always bring about a sense of emotion in me – I cry when he wins, I cry when he loses. He has a quiet charm about him which helps lend himself to this type of response. Win or lose, he compliments his opponent and admits to a justified defeat.
This tennis legend reminds me of another great, Pete Sampras, with that easy smile and excitement to win, no matter how many victories are under his belt. Some may argue that Federer wasn’t up to par in the finals, as he served at only 50%. Nobody can deny, however, that del Potro deserved this win. He didn’t win on luck, he went through two of tennis’ greatest players on will, determination, fire and one killer forehand.
Some make the claim that everyone enjoys watching those on top tumble. I implore that Roger Federer is an exception to this cynical view and that the public at large looks forward to another record-breaking performance.