As Roger Federer lays down his racquet after 24 years, I thought this would be the right time for me to raise a racquet (and a toast) to the person who defined tennis for me.

I’m nearing 24 years, which means for nearly all my life, Roger’s been playing and been the torchbearer of how sport should be played. Rafa and Novak definitely dominated more over the last decade, but Federer is most definitely bound to be the most recalled, remembered and revered of the ‘big three’, atleast for my generation. This blog is why I think that is the case.

Why is Roger, who has fewer grand slams than Rafa/Novak, and a worse head to head loved more as the GOAT, and exponentially more as a person to 2 entire generations of tennis or sports fans? When about 30 professional cricketers and footballers were asked who would be the one sportsperson they would like to meet outside of their sport, why were 80% of their answers Roger Federer. Why does Sachin Tendulkar only watch Roger’s matches when he visits Wimbledon annually, and why has Leo Messi(possibly the shy-est sportperson) only posted about one non-footballer ever in his Instagram (he posted about Roger’s retirement)?

The GOATS of other sports seem to be obsessed with a non-GOAT of tennis, and hold him in higher stead than almost everyone else. I’ll try and explain why I think this is the case, and why I have similar emotions tied to Roger.

Taking up an allegory.

My love for Messi in football holds many parallels to Roger in tennis. Both are incredibly competetive on the pitch, and perfect gentlemen off of it. Both have silently created new benchmarks in their respectful fields. Also both are the reason I’ve spent most of my life obsessing over Barcelona and tennis, both playing and watching the sports. But what is most glaringly obvious which both of them share?

I think its their EASE at the game. Watching Messi dribble through 6 defenders seems like he’s floating in the air, and not TRYING to conciously get through them. There are no audacious Neymar-esque flicks, just subtle changes of body weight and direction which seem to be a part of nature, and also seem to be the RIGHT way to play football. It’s nonchallant, efficient, and also incredibly efficient to do.

Same with Roger. There’s a remarkable calmness to everything he does. There are no groans after a forehand, and the arms and body remain loose throughout. The face remains calm throughout. It seems like he isn’t trying hard to re-route the ball, and it just seems to be following his directions. There’s a sense of flow in the entire motion, a sense that this is how the shot is MEANT to be played, as if the river is being allowed to flow to its natural end point.

Moreover, this flow state is independent of match situation. A Federer backhand remains poised and steady at set-point and at the start of the match. There is also no inkling of expression on Roger’s face during most games (something Messi and Sachin share as well).

Lastly, there is the unique style which only Roger brought in. Novak Djokovic has a far more effective, and deadly backhand. But you ask a 12 year old to feign a backhand and he’ll imitate Roger’s one handed backhand. Kids (and most adults) don’t care about efficiency, they want to feel good about their shots, and Roger’s one-handed backhand is probably one of the most picturesque motions in sport. So difficult to pull off, yet looks so easy when he executes it.

So yes, three things according to me : 1) Ease 2) Calm and 3) Style. Complemented with 20 grand slams. That’s the recipe to be called a GOAT, while having fewer grand slams, acc to me.

But there’s ONE more thing which makes him more admirable to non-tennis sportspersons than Messi/Sachin/Jordan. It’s the fact that tennis is an INDIVIDUAL sport. Let me explain based on my experiences playing football all my life and then trying to play tennis competetively.

In group sports, however superstar you are, there are instances to hide when you are having bad days. Sachin’s legacy is not going to be tarnished coz he scored sub 20 in WC’2011 final and Dhoni/Gambhir saved the day. Messi can sometimes have off days and still end up in the winning side because Iniesta and Busquets decided to show up. When Roger has a bad day, he loses, sometimes badly.

Tennis is all about focus, energy and technique. But more so about self-confidence. Any person who has played any sport knows this: if you are not confident about your ability, the former 3 things don’t matter. When you have a bad day in tennis, you start hitting a few shots over the line, then lose confidence so you start underhitting/not-following-through , which makes you hit even longer mistimed shots , which makes you wanna hit harder ……till the loop from hell leads you to 2-6 in a set.

And you cannot hide. If you’re losing 5-1 in a set, you can’t blame your coach. You can’t blame a defender in football for an error when you as a forward contributed nothing like in football, in tennis. No one cares that you are more talented, and you having bad days is seen as you not having the innate talent. You’re fighting battles ALONE, and don’t have teammates to lift you up in the middle of the game.

When Roger faces all of this, and STIL maintains the elegance and style he’s known for, you can only be astounded by the mental genius of the phenom/GOAT.

I started watching and playing tennis probably because of the admiration for RF. I also decided to break my 2-handed-backhand for a one-hander just so I could think of myself as closer to RF’s style. I think so have many MANY more people.

It’s the people that you try to immitate that you admire the most (there’s a subconcious reason kids imitate their paren’t behaviours in adulthood). There are many Roger Federer impersonators out there. That’s coz there is only one Roger Federer out there.

You’d be missed Roger, all the best.

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