Wimbledon 2015 - The grand finale
History is precious; not in its rarity, but rather in its timelessness of the momentary. For, it is made every minute, hour and day in the lives of men and women who bare their mortality to the task of artistry, whilst exposing their divinity in the process, scripting miracles. None more compelling, as the experience on the immortal stage of sport!
History’s sole obsessive habit across time has been an evolution in quest of perfection. But there do come times, often in the last decade on the myriad courts of tennis, when we we’ve been compelled to pause and reflect if it can get any better. Definitely, one such moment had just brushed our collective consciousness last summer on the slippery red dirt. A timeless moment that went down in history, celebrating the spirit of a gladiator, the ethic of a champion and the virtue of a legend: Rafael Nadal.
When the sands of time symbolize the transience of genius; quite appropriately, the sparring fortnight at Paris has year after year, in a decade long marvel, created this monument of ‘clay,’ persevering and immortal. Nine pieces of silverware en route to a joint place on the second highest pedestal, only three steps from the supreme. It’s the story of an emperor who has owned his fort with such an obsession mistaken for selfishness; in truth, an enduring relationship that could only be rightly called love!
A tale of two cities
But, in a fortnight, we move from the rubble to the lawns. From the agelessness of brick to the very youthful exuberance of the lawns. Quite interestingly, by coincidence or design, fate has ordained, that the centers for this juxtaposition of a famous storyline actually forms the backdrop in the analogous setting in Charles Dicken’s ‘A tale of two cities!
A serene green pasture; where greatness grazes, where the soothing spotless white swans dance, where the time pauses to acknowledge the step of a legend in motion, where ageless tradition meets the adolescence of the future. For here’s a battleground that’s seen it all. From the greatest of them fall, to the birth of new champions. A home owned by the game’s elite and a hall to their mozartesque symphony!
The champion is crowned
For much of the last decade, the coming of age emperor emphatically established his place on the pedestal, swatting the pretenders and sublimely dismantling the predators. But in the last five years, we’ve had (the top) four different players inscribe their names on the throne. Each earned in a taste of a Shakespearean plot.
Nadal who had dethroned the Swiss Supremo with one of the all-time epic finals in ‘08 returned to add to the collection in 2010. Only to hand over the baton to the rising star in the winter, the elastic Serbian Djoker in 2011. Federer responded in his inimitable style to return to No. 1 with a spectacular 17th Grand Slam in 2012.
He was to only yet again pass the baton to the man who finally laid the ghost of the late Fred to rest in Murray’s relentless victory in 2014! Ever the fighter, Djokovic returned to avenge his loss in twelve months’ time with a stellar final over the king of the lawns, to expand his silverware in 2014.
Rafael Nadal
Runner Up ‘07 – Champion ‘08
Andy Murray
Runner Up ‘12 – Champion ‘13
Novak Djokovic
Runner Up ‘13 – Champion ‘14
Therefore, as surmised, if the history is anything to go by, we’ve seen thrice in the last three years and twice in the last two years, the runner up at the All England lawns return to lift the trophy in twelve months’ time.
So would it be safe to assume, based on history, and the current form of this ‘Midas with the Mozart touch’ to pick his No. 18 come this Sunday?
Perhaps, as always, we shall remain obsessed with this romance with the superlative even though illusory, as the head argues. But why shouldn’t we, as long as the cupid of sport waltzes on the centre court!
Of course, we have more than a reason to be optimistic, come Sunday, given the way Federer dismantled the temperamental Scottish seal in his own backyard with one of the best games of his career. He certainly has turned back the clock to his vintage style of the mermaid kill. One that could be best described as a broadway ballet on centre court! I just hope the plot that unfolds doesn’t appeal to Shakespeare in his grave.