Day 16: peRFect

There is nothing Google cannot knock up about Roger Federer. That his parents worked for a pharmaceutical company, that he gave up school to focus on tennis, that he was an aggressive teenage racquet-tosser who howled when he lost. And that, Rafael Nadal was his nemesis. But they are both as important to the game of tennis, the one thing which is most important to me.

Ever since childhood, I’ve been intently passionate about extra and co-curricular activities, more than academics. However, witnessing my first crush leave for his tennis practices was my first interface with discipline. I did not need the alarm clock to tell me that it was 5.30 am when I heard the car sweep out of their garage. Having watched matches with him on TV and see him guitar on the composite Wilson racquet led me to hold it and enact as if I were Martina Hingis myself, smashing the lime-yellow ball out into the universe with the message that I was here to stay, and play. I will change the player to Serena Williams today though.

With the advent of ESPN and Star Sports, the world of Grand Slams curtained open. Those hours went by swift as an ace. And then came the moment. The distinctive red clay court of Roland Garros was like listening to the melody of a new language, confusing, yet exquisite. It was the 2011 semi-final of the French open, my beloved Federer pitted against his arch-rival Nadal. After watching the grueling five-setter, the match should have left me exhausted and disappointed with Nadal’s win. Instead, it completely washed me with some magic-potion where I started envisioning myself on the track of life.

In doing so, my readings of various articles on sports, played a key-role. In particular, David Foster Wallace’s ‘Roger Federer as Religious Experience’ was my first encounter with reading an academic version of the game. It brought out philosophical as well as technical aspects of fandom, and the game. Lengthy and well-researched reads such as these developed my patience with the curriculum and allowed me to read simple things with varied perspectives. I went on to translate from an easy conversationalist to a passionate knowledge-sharer.

Tennis is a game of excruciating timing and details, and what captivated me the most about it is how it made me feel more confident, thereby enhancing my concentration in other activities. The Wimbledons of 2008 and 2019 were a testimony to how even the greatest can not be the winner. Understanding grand slam rivalries rendered in me the ability to handle failures in life.

Sure, I have gained a finer nuance towards understanding the game over these years as I watched Federer win, be written-off and win again, but there was a deep philosophy I met on the way – the uncomplicated truth of being happy on the tennis court. He has rewritten the rules of longevity and numbers, and taught me with his swiss-chocolate smooth smile that sometimes one just needs to hold onto the basic postulates of hard-work and principles.

It is enough to ride out any storm, and things will only be ‘Betterer’.