Sidvee wrote this beautiful piece titled Federer, Nadal and a fan's agony. I made a comment on it,a nd it turned out to be just as big as a blog post. Here is what I had written:
Tennis is pure joy. Being an Indian who blindly picks India in any team sport and an Indian in any individual sport to support; there was no such pressure to pick a fav in tennis. Or so I thought. Back when we were a joint family in the late 80s when my age had not even reached double figures; started watching tennis sitting between Dad and his younger brother. It was only Wimbledon back then. Dad was for Becker while Uncle was for Edberg. I picked Edberg cos the sound of “Sweden” seemed sweeter than “Germany”. Then came the time when I started understanding a bit of tennis. There were two blokes who the entire tennis watching world were divided upon: Pete and Andre; everyone spoke only about these two which didn’t impress me. There was one lad who wore a white shirt that had a bit of pink on it that I had my eyes on. This lad used to finish games at a blink of an eye. All the chair umpire announced was “15-0; 30-0; 40-0; Game Ivanisevic” I decided on him. The 92 Wimbledon final was my first taste of pain, this came even before feeling the pain of an Indian cricket team’s loss. That was the first time I watched a 5-setter without losing patience. Loads of heartbreaks followed. 94 Aus Open, 94 Wimbledon, 94 French Open (which lead to an all-Spaniard best friends final which I’ll never forget!), 96 USO, 97 Aus Open and for the last time 98 Wimbledon. That he beat Krajicek in the SF and took the fight to 5 sets against the grandmaster of Grass was heartening. I knew and felt the crown wasn’t far. 2001 was a dream. One guy from Switzerland with a ponytail was commanding and dominating the king of grass, I had him bookmarked for later viewing. There was one love story waiting to reach a peak. It happened, that late evening; I fell on my knees just as he fell face down. I had tears of joy for a sportsman winning a tournament. i don’t remember something of that sort ever happening to me before. And then, I re-visited the bookmark and a love story of sorts still continues. The grace, The RF, That white against the green grass, that playing between the legs that Goran used to do. The recent pains; the recent bouts of cluelessness against the arch nemesis, the emergence of a a triangle. Rivalries need to thrive. Nadal and Federer complement each other. They need each other to bring out that dormant dragon. As you rightly pointed out, every Federer fan needs Nadal, every Indian fan needs Pakistan, every Aussie fan needs the Kiwis.
Tennis is pure joy. Being an Indian who blindly picks India in any team sport and an Indian in any individual sport to support; there was no such pressure to pick a fav in tennis. Or so I thought. Back when we were a joint family in the late 80s when my age had not even reached double figures; started watching tennis sitting between Dad and his younger brother. It was only Wimbledon back then. Dad was for Becker while Uncle was for Edberg. I picked Edberg cos the sound of “Sweden” seemed sweeter than “Germany”. Then came the time when I started understanding a bit of tennis. There were two blokes who the entire tennis watching world were divided upon: Pete and Andre; everyone spoke only about these two which didn’t impress me. There was one lad who wore a white shirt that had a bit of pink on it that I had my eyes on. This lad used to finish games at a blink of an eye. All the chair umpire announced was “15-0; 30-0; 40-0; Game Ivanisevic” I decided on him. The 92 Wimbledon final was my first taste of pain, this came even before feeling the pain of an Indian cricket team’s loss. That was the first time I watched a 5-setter without losing patience. Loads of heartbreaks followed. 94 Aus Open, 94 Wimbledon, 94 French Open (which lead to an all-Spaniard best friends final which I’ll never forget!), 96 USO, 97 Aus Open and for the last time 98 Wimbledon. That he beat Krajicek in the SF and took the fight to 5 sets against the grandmaster of Grass was heartening. I knew and felt the crown wasn’t far. 2001 was a dream. One guy from Switzerland with a ponytail was commanding and dominating the king of grass, I had him bookmarked for later viewing. There was one love story waiting to reach a peak. It happened, that late evening; I fell on my knees just as he fell face down. I had tears of joy for a sportsman winning a tournament. i don’t remember something of that sort ever happening to me before. And then, I re-visited the bookmark and a love story of sorts still continues. The grace, The RF, That white against the green grass, that playing between the legs that Goran used to do. The recent pains; the recent bouts of cluelessness against the arch nemesis, the emergence of a a triangle. Rivalries need to thrive. Nadal and Federer complement each other. They need each other to bring out that dormant dragon. As you rightly pointed out, every Federer fan needs Nadal, every Indian fan needs Pakistan, every Aussie fan needs the Kiwis.
