Winds of change in tennis: Is age taking its toll?
Andy Murray with his Wimbledon Championships Trophy
The most famous fortnight of the year ended last night with the end of a 77 year wait for the host country. Andy Murray finally exorcised his inner demons of self doubt to rip through World No.1 Novak Djokovic and finally achieved his dream of winning on the biggest stage in tennis.
It wasn’t a very intensely fought, edge of the seat thriller that the Centre Court of London SW19 has come to expect at the finals in recent years, but a rather tame surrender from a tired Djokovic, who has had to endure the mental strain of a tough loss at Nadal’s hands last month in Paris and a physical battle in the semi final against the giant Argentine Del Potro.
That four-and-a-half hour battle clearly took its toll on the Serb’s body, which had only a day in between to recuperate. That said however, it was one of Murray’s most authoritative performances in his career as he made Novak fight hard for every point and showed his mental strength in the third set when Djokovic was looking to sneak a foot in the door. Murray, now has the big monkey off his back, and an entire nation can breathe easy again.
This Wimbledon has however planted a big seed of doubt in the minds of tennis fans about the future of two of the greatest players of all time. The shocking method in which Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer,with 29 grand slams between them, exited from the tournament in the opening rounds was something even Octopus Paul wouldn’t have predicted. Both the players were pre-tournament favourites, and fans were already feasting on the prospect of a quarter-final showdown between the two greats.
It was not to be however as a certain Steve Darvis, whose best performance in a grand slam had been reaching the 2nd round and who had lost in 12 of his 18 grand slam appearances in the first round, caused the biggest upset of the tournament by knocking out Nadal in the 1st round in straight sets.
Sergiy Stakhovsky then caused an even bigger upset by knocking out the defending and seven times Wimbledon champion Roger Federer in the 2nd round, in what was a day of upsets and injured retirements.
Roger Federer’s aura of invincibility has slowly diminished over the past couple of years. He is 31, on the verge of turning 32, and at that age tennis players are usually languishing somewhere in the bottom of the ATP rankings. That applies only to mortals however, as Federer is still ranked in the top 5, and has slipped out of the top 3 for the first time in a decade after this year’s early exit at Wimbledon.
Sadly though, his title winning streak has diminished in the past two years, and players who were a walk over for him in his heydays are now stretching him into five setters. The best tennis he has played in the year gone by has possibly been at last year’s Wimbledon final where he came back from a set down against Murray and, in an almost awe inspiring manner, tore him apart in the next three.
Federer’s fans were delighted by his seeming return to top form as he went on to win Silver Medal in the singles event at the London Olympics a month later. Since then, he hasn’t been able to win any major event in tennis and like with all great sportsmen, age has had a lot to do with it. Federer’s grace and elegance and sheer dominance was what earned him his 17 grand slam titles and millions of fans over the world, and now those fans have to accept the harsh reality of Federer’s dip in form and the inevitable ‘R’ word.
Federer though will still believe he has enough gas left in the tank for one last hurrah, for adding one last trophy to that enviable lot that adorns his living room. The most likely place for that title seems to be Wimbledon, Federer’s second home, where he has ruled like a mighty emperor in the last decade.