Gentleman Federer gets fitting final act

Damian Stack looks at some of the stories making backpage news over the past seven days

NOT so long ago these guys were crocked, walking wounded, unable to play even an exhibition match. Roger Federer, gentleman that he is, was on hand to help Rafael Nadal launch his new tennis academy on Mallorca.

Federer’s presence a sign of the mutual respect between these two old soldiers. Competitors that they are, there was more than a little disappointment they couldn’t do more than stand and talk. The competitive instinct remains deeply ingrained.

They ended up on court alright, with kids playing a game of mini tennis, about as far away from a grand slam final as you can possibly imagine. It was then that Federer turned to his great rival and said, with more than a hint of regret, that this was the best they could do right now.

Nadal was recovering from a wrist injury, Federer from knee surgery. Their days as the box-office pairing in world tennis seemed to have passed. Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic had supplanted them atop the ladder. Theirs now was the essential rivalry. That between Federer and Nadal belonged to another time, another era.

That mini tennis game on Mallorca was all the proof anybody could ever want. That was less than three months ago, October 19.

Last weekend those same two players played out an epic Australian Open final in Melbourne. To have one phoenix to rise from the ashes would be remarkable enough in and of itself, for two of them to do so and to rise to such great heights is bound to be one of the stories of the year.Tobeabletomakethatclaimjustone month into the year, says it all.

Federer and Nadal had a few things going for them, Murray and Djokovic (who seems to have lost a bit of his mojo recently) exited the competition unexpectedly early. Grigor Dimitrov hasn’t yet reached his full potential.

That’s not to say they reached the final by default. The final on Sunday morning proved that. Were these player performing at the peak of their powers? Perhaps not. Physically at least given all they’d done and all they’d suffered that simply wouldn’t be possible.

Instead they had to adapt themselves to their new circumstances and they’d done so magnificently. Federer, in particular, is a player who has moved withthetimes, moved with what his body would allow of him.

Before last Sunday his rivalry with Nadal had been a touch one sided – out of thirty four matches between the two, twenty three times the spoils had gone to Nadal. That undoubtedly gave the Swiss plenty to think on during his latest convalescence. It’s odd in a way that a shadow was cast over Federer’s achievements by the simple fact of Nadal’s dominance. Federer was, even before last weekend, a great of the game and quite possibly still the greatest of all time. Federer had seventeen titles to Nadal’s fourteen. He’s five years older than Nadal – a point forgotten by many when grouping the pair together as part of the same generation – how grievous would it really be to his reputation to lose out in a final nobody expected him to be in, in the first place? To get to the point of greatness, to get to the edge of greatest of all time status you simply don’t think in those terms. Win the point, win the game, win the set, win the match, win the tournament. It’s that simple, except of course that it isn’t not when you come face to face with a rampaging Rafa Nadal for over three hours of a Sunday morning. This was a real battle for Federer. Even in the third set, which Federer won 6-1, Nadal was closer than the score might suggest. That’s why Nadal’s recovery in the fourth set didn’t really come as any great surprise. Even in a losing set a player can pick up momentum, can spy things in his rival’s game to be exploited. By claiming the fourth set, to send it to a fifth, Nadal seemed to well in control. Those additional years were bound to catch up on Federer. When straight away in the fifth set Nadal broke Federer’s serve it felt as though the match was slipping away from Federer. Even then over the next few games he had chances – four or five break points – he didn’t avail of. What could have sapped Federer of confidence instead fed it. He knew he was closeandwhenhebrokeNadal once, he broke him twice, playing an audacious brand of tennis, replete with all the style and sophistication we’ve come to expect of this great champion. Federer’s victory – grand slam title number eighteen – ought to be the cap on a wonderful career. Why then doesn’t it feel that way? Why does it feels as though there’s more to come. If it seems a touch greedy to expect more of Federer, it should be noted that he expects it of himself. Wimbledon beckons. Roland Garroshas always been a difficult hunting ground for him (Nadal, however, could thrive there again). The grass of the All England club will be altogether more congenial for Federer, the now unquestioned greatest of all time. This story isn’t yet done.