A Champion With Great Feeling

A Champion With Great Feeling

By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY
Published: July 9, 2012
WIMBLEDON, England
The morning after had a melancholy feel this year at Wimbledon: more drizzle, empty picnic tables and bare patches in the lawn on Henman Hill, which would surely have needed a new name if Andy Murray had managed to give his Union Jacked fans what they were shouting for Sunday.


The only man who ended up putting an end to a 76-year British drought turned out to be Marray, not Murray. Jonathan Marray and his Danish partner, Frederik Nielsen, took the men’s doubles title as a wild-card team.

That was nearly as big a surprise as when Lukas Rosol, the world’s 100th-ranked player, knocked Rafael Nadal out of the tournament in the second round.

But some of the traditional rules did apply this year at the All England Club. On Monday, amid the empty grass courts and the workers hustling to put in place Wimbledon’s new Olympic décor, there was a familiar sight: Roger Federer in street clothes giving a series of interviews in multiple languages after his latest run to the Wimbledon trophy.

Federer’s four-set victory over Murray gave him seven singles titles here, which equaled the record shared by William Renshaw and Pete Sampras. Renshaw had it easy in the age of long tennis trousers and the challenge round in the 19th century. As defending champion, Renshaw had only to play a single match to retain his title.

Sampras, whose seven titles came from 1993 to 2000, is the serial champion to whom Federer can truly relate.

Asked if he had heard from Renshaw or Sampras, Federer smiled at the joke. “Not William, no,” he said. “But I have heard from Pete, which was very nice.”

Sampras, the powerful Californian who was Federer’s boyhood idol, could not make it to Wimbledon this year, but he did make the long journey in 2009 when Federer beat Andy Roddick in a marathon fifth set to win a 15th Grand Slam singles title and break Sampras’s men’s career record. That emotional match also foreshadowed Sunday’s final in that Federer had to summon the focus and, well, the ruthlessness to defeat an inspired opponent who was the sentimental favorite.

Roddick — the wisecracking, serve-whacking American — had never won Wimbledon and almost certainly never will after losing to Federer in all three of his finals appearances. Murray, a 25-year-old Scotsman who has long been the target of British hopes and fears at Wimbledon, has never won a Grand Slam title and has now lost to Federer three times in major finals.

“I was extremely happy yesterday but also sort of, I thought it was very important to be respectful towards Andy’s situation,” Federer said. “I get the sense obviously how the crowd felt as well. It’s like three years ago. It was very torn. Of course they were happy for me but also very sad for Andy, a different Andy this time around.”

Tennis, where singles players are exposed as in few other sports, has been nicknamed the crying game in some circles in the era of Federer, who has broken down with both joy and disappointment after Grand Slam finals. He could certainly relate to Murray’s tears on Sunday, all the more so because Murray broke down after losing to Federer in the 2010 Australian Open.

“You’d be happy to just stand there, hold the trophy, take the pictures, sign autographs, no problem,” Federer said. “But then you have to talk and speak. That’s the hard part, and I’ve been there. I know how it feels, I’m a believer it’s good to sometimes get it out. And I think he won over a lot of people and hearts from fans because of the emotions he showed in Australia and now again here. Because I think it does as well show we are human.

“I know we put on the poker face out there when we play, and we try hard, and we smash serves and balls and you name it. And then all of the sudden when everything is said and done, it’s different, you know. We do care so deeply about winning and losing. We do care about what the crowd thinks. Of course our heart is broken, and that’s obviously where I feel for Andy in a big way, but he’s still got so many years left and so many opportunities that will come around if he just has a good mental focus now for the following year.”

Speculate if you will about the dimensions of Federer’s ego. Chuckle if you will at PseudoFed, the parody Twitter account that likes to employ the hashtag #humble and make light of Federer’s frank and occasionally self-serving pronouncements. “Oh really? Is it funny?” Federer said earlier in the tournament.

How many athletes who achieve Federer’s status would possess the degree of empathy he demonstrated toward Murray, and how many would feel comfortable expressing it so openly?

A champion with the drive, gifts and pride required to win 17 Grand Slam titles in one of the most competitive and global of individual sports could have projected so much more entitlement in general through the years, so much more indifference in the concerns of players below him on the tennis food chain.

Federer, with his 31st birthday coming next month, has given himself some historical breathing room to keep his records. Nadal has 11 major titles at age 26 and is, in theory, in range.

It is no great surprise that Federer, with his Wimbledon record, managed to win another Grand Slam singles title. What is more striking is that, with all his past success and new personal responsibilities, he summoned the year-round consistency and commitment to get back to No. 1.

He has won five tournaments this season, more than any other man. He does not just enjoy the endgame; he enjoys the game, which seems much closer to a craft in his deft hands.

“Watch him,” said Severin Lüthi, the Swiss Davis Cup captain who helps coach Federer and has known him since his early teens. “If he plays from the baseline, he likes to do something a little different with the ball each time if he can. Once he’ll hit slice; the next, topspin. He does not just play the ball. He plays with the ball.”