Whatever it takes

The past 2 weeks have been good.
I filled my otherwise mind numbingly boring time at my cubicle with religiously hitting F5 every 5 minutes on AustralianOpen.com to get the latest scores, all the while wishing that Australia was closer in time to India so that I could catch the matches live.
But thanks to all the millions the sponsors pour in, the finals are always played out on weekends on primetime, garnering maximum viwership. (I have no problem seeing a commercial or two after 2 games or during changeover if I am getting the whole match!)

So, this weekend was much anticipated.
My favorites – Serena in the woman's draw and Federer in the men' - were both in the finals. Serena was to play the powerful Russian – Safina, the one with thunderous ground strokes and bright sunflower yellow shirts. Federer's opponent was to be one of the two lefties – Nadal or Verdasco. I like many others was expecting Verdasco to take at the most a set off Nadal. But I was also rooting for Verdasco to win because that would make it easier for Federer to win the finals. (And also because Verdasco is just so sexy!)

I should make my inclinations clear here.
I am a Federer fan – through and through.
I like everything about him – the way he plays the game, the suavity and grace he brings to it, the way he makes it look like a stroll in the park, the way he renders good players amateurs, the way he still has Mirka in his box instead of the next Brazilian lingerie model – I told you, I love everything about him. And it has been this way for the past many years. I enjoyed the years when Federer utterly dominated the circuit, when every year he would win all the grand slams, except French, like clockwork. I was not too alarmed last year when he won only 1 grand slam (and made it to the semi final of another and finals of 2 others, losing one in an epic final.) This I knew was a bad season only by his dizzying standards. The "monster" he had created had to be tamed sooner or later.

Though it was heart-breaking to see Federer lose to Nadal yet again in a slam final this time, it got me thinking. I wanted Roger to win this one especially because of many reasons.
It's always good to start the year with a slam; it gives you the platform to potentially complete a calendar grand slam. And this would have been Roger's record equaling 14th. After this he would no longer be chasing history, but scripting it, with considerably lesser pressures. It would also lessen the difference in points between the top 2 ranks, making regaining the No.1 spot feasible. But most importantly, a hard court win would give the needed phillip to try for another French. And it really is high time Roger set about correcting his terrible record against Nadal in slam finals!

I think there was very little to choose between the two players in the first four sets. Even with ridiculously low first serve percentages Federer managed to win 2 sets. But there was no question that Nadal was the fitter, stronger and faster of the two. There was also no doubt that his strategy of relentlessly targeting Federer's backhand was paying.
But to me what stood out was Federer's lack of a game plan to beat Nadal.
And Federer's mystifying refusal to use his backhand slices which were regularly drawing errors from the Nadal forehand more often.

It seemed as if Federer thought, "There is really nothing special I need to do to beat Nadal. Just serve well and play my regular game. My genius has got to over power him."
And this is not the first time I noticed this hint of obstinacy in Roger.

When he won the US open last year, after the whole world had finished writing his obituary, he said that he always knew there were no changes required in his game and what had worked the past years would still work in the years to come. But even I could see that there had to be some tweaks. (Loyal I may be in my admiration, but blind I am not!)
The back hand had to necessarily improve and become more offensive. The serve – both the first and second, though having more than enough pace and variety, would sometimes give way and there had to be a backup plan for such cases.
And it scared me a little that Roger refused to even acknowledge these.

But time and again we have seen that even a below-par Federer can beat the top players, the exception of course being Nadal.
After the uncharacteristically one sided loss to Nadal in the French and later a soul sapping loss in Wimbeldon, Federer seemed to lose half the battle with Nadal even before the matches began.

So, in a moment of tough-love, it struck me that it was time Roger got off his high horse and went about doing something definitive about beating Nadal. For the rest on the circuit his current game is enough, but for Nadal he needs something more. He needs a tactic to play the leftie kicking serves, he needs a way to control his backhand while returning those wicked heavy top spins. He needs to hit the Nadal-angles. And he definitely needs to keep Nadal only across the net and not let him vex his mind.

But if a severely bored techie can figure this out, a fluent in four languages champion can see it too! It will be interesting to see where Roger goes from here. The tears after the recent loss proved he is as hungry as before.

And it is said that the toughest of challenges often draw out the best from champions!