Oh My God Oh My God Oh My God!

Oh My God Oh My God Oh My God!

Today I watched one of the best, most intense, nail-biting tennis matches ever!

Right now I had to stop dancing around the living room and ‘high-fiving” my son—just because I wanted to share this feeling with more than just the two of us.

Because of influences beyond out control we had to abandon watching the match live around the beginning of the fourth set, when Roger was down: love 15, in the fourth set, and down by two sets to one and looked like he was about to miss out on being in the French Open final when this was the only time in four attempts that Nadal was out of the picture; and this was around 3.30 pm West Coast time!

Can you imagine how hard it was to stop watching?

All I wanted to do was get drunk, stoned and totally out of it and not think of this amazing, lost opportunity for Roger—when somebody whom he had beaten effortlessly for the last five times, might actually snatch a win.
To me and obviously for thousands of people in the Arena wanting the great champion to win his only missing trophy to complete a grand slam and thus crowning him as “the best player ever”, it was difficult to watch.

So …in a way it was good to spend some hours “disconnecting from the match” between that doubtful third game of the fourth and then the final two sets, to put things into the right perspective for me.

So I spent the next four hours working, avoiding all media and just enjoying music

When I finished my work I did some cooking and opened my first beer. Mercifully the phone rang soon after and I found that I would soon be put out of my misery.

Only 20 minutes to go and I’d find out what the fuck happened…to Roger and his dream to catch up to Pete Sampras and win his 14th. Grand Slam.

I can’t stand the way I feel so deeply about any kind sports result—but for those who read my occasional blog and journal know—I am a huge tennis fan—and Roger is my favorite player ever---and it hurts me deeply...whenever he loses.

I have to say that I had to be somewhat tipsy…but to cut a long and tiring story short…he ended up coming back from all that…to break Del Potro in the fourth set winning it at 6-2.

So we celebrated ….thinking that it was all over and that Rog had totally annihilated his opponent, when Del Potro came back.

By the time the score was 3- all, we were back to biting our nails.

Now all our hopes were dashed once more.

The camera kept focusing on people in the audience, who were obviously just as freaked out as we were, holding their faces in their hands and looking most distraught.

I kept thinking how this was one of those freaky years—when anything could happen, after all who would have ever thought that the world would be stunned by witnessing Nadal ousted early --- in the fourth round?

At the time it seemed that this was Roger’s best chance to win this long coveted and elusive trophy…but now it seemed that everybody was a better player than Roger….he couldn’t win---no matter whom he played.

The camera focused on Mr. Federer the elder standing in the wings, waiting for his son to complete this match. His face showed the stress we all felt…but when Roger managed to hold his serve…it lit up like a Xmas tree, and the camera followed him to his seat, where Mirka—Roger’s wife—smiled with relief.

Now--- if only Roger could break in the next game—everything would be OK—so we watched and hoped and prayed and for a while it seemed that he would actually break and win his semi final—but once again, he failed to put us out of our misery ( as easily as we’d hoped)…meaning that he had to hold serve once more in order to win.

If you’re as big a tennis fan as I am—you would have seen Roger lose his first grand slam of the year—the Aussie Open—to Rafa ...and be beaten by several up and coming players in the minor tournaments leading up to this great event.

His chances to win in Paris this time were considered very slight by the tennis media consisting mainly of well-known ex-coaches, really old players, and former champions.
(I do love them all and their chatter—bit loyalty is not their forte).

To me it seemed that they were really never giving Roger his dues and only ever wanted to talk about Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray.
(To his credit—Rafa himself has deep respect for Roger and all his accomplishments.)

So personally I was thrilled even more when they dropped out one by one and Roger was the only player of note still standing, and finally –Roger began to get his dues once more.
Bu at the same time--the pressure was back on…and he was once more contending to ‘become the best tennis player ever’.
Nobody was talking about Nadal and the others— it’s just Federer and a Swedish player named Robin Soderling —the one who had beaten Nadal, but had never made it past any third rounds.

All of a sudden the weight of expectations had fallen on his shoulders and how would he now handle it?


So would Roger now have the goods to beat Del Potro?

Can he?

Yes he can! Yes he did— –and yes he did! Did I say he won?

Somehow he just morphed back into his best version of himself and came up with some amazing shots just when he needed it the most, and finished strong.

Del Potro even seemed happy for Roger to win, and being only 20 years old, he’ll have many more chances to win his own trophies.

So now to wait until Sunday…can I wait?
Yes I can, because I have to…but it’s hard!