I'm a Roger Guy...Always Have Been, Always Will Be

As my regular readers know, I'm not a fan of Rafael Nadal.  There are many reasons for this, but, whenever somebody asks me why I don't like Rafa, I only need to give them one.  "Because I'm a Roger guy."  And, as a "Roger guy," I couldn't bring myself to ever cheer for Nadal.  (I know they're friends in real life, but that doesn't change my opinion of Rafa as a player.)

Serena Williams, of course, got that dramatic send-off at the US Open (which may not actually be her final tournament after all).  Roger was trying to come back, but his body told him "No," so he listened to it.  And, in a way, it's kind of fitting that his last Grand Slam match ended up being at Wimbledon last year.  Because that's the tournament he'll always be associated with the most.

I remember when I first heard about Roger Federer.  He was this up-and-comer who was touted as the next great player when he beat Pete Sampras at Wimbledon in 2001, when Sampras was the four-time defending champion.  Well, I think it's safe to say the experts were right about him!  Roger wasn't just the "next great player," he's arguably the greatest player ever!  (Although, I do think Djokovic will surpass him for that title, if he hasn't already.)

Roger's retirement, as well as the recent retirement of Ben Roethlisberger and the pending retirement of Albert Pujols really make me feel old!  You can even throw Allyson Felix and Sue Bird in there if you want.  I'm the same age as all these people, so that's probably the reason why it's hitting so hard.  My generation is no longer the prime age for professional athletes.

So, yeah, I'm bummed I'll never see Roger play again.  I'll never see that brilliant one-handed backhand.  I'll never see someone who makes playing tennis look so beautiful and effortless at the same time.  That's the biggest difference between Federer, Nadal and Djokovic.  Rafa and Novak make you work for every point, and you can always tell how hard they're working.  Roger made everything look easy and never looked tired.  You could never tell if it was the first game of the match or deep into the fifth set.  His expression was the same.

There's a cruel irony to Roger's career being ended by chronic injuries, too.  Because for the longest time, he was never hurt!  One thing you could always count on was Roger Federer playing in a Grand Slam (and most likely making it deep into the second week).  In fact, until he missed the 2016 French Open, he hadn't missed a Slam since the 1999 US Open (when he lost in qualifying).  That's 16 consecutive years of playing in all four Grand Slam tournaments!  He'd only play all four in the same year once after that, in 2019.

Watching him in his prime was something special, too!  When he lost in the second round of Wimbledon in 2013, it snapped a streak of 36 straight Grand Slam quarterfinals.  That's nine years!  Nine! Freakin'! Years! making it to at least the quarters at every Slam!  That streak included 10 consecutive Grand Slam finals from 2005-07, then, after an Australian Open semifinal loss, eight more from 2008-10 (so, that's 18 out of 19 over those five years).

Still, there's one thing Roger never won--Olympic gold in singles.  In 2012, the Olympics were at Wimbledon.  He lost in the final to Andy Murray.  That silver was his only Olympic singles medal, but he did win doubles gold with Stan Wawrinka in 2008.  The two of them also led Switzerland to its first Davis Cup title in 2014, so I doubt you'll hear him complain about that.

You, of course, can't talk about Federer without also talking about Nadal and Djokovic.  We'll never see anything like the Big Three Era again.  The three of them made each other better, much to the dismay of every other player on tour.  Roger was the first to 20 Grand Slams.  The other two have since surpassed him.  So what?  That doesn't take anything away from Roger's greatness.  (And the fact that they have 63 Grand Slam titles between them is just absurd!)

If there's one unfortunate thing about the timing of Roger's career-ending injuries, it might be the fact that he never got the chance to punch back once Rafa and Novak passed him.  After Djokovic won Wimbledon last year, it was a three-way tie at 20, which we were all looking forward to seeing broken at the US Open.  That, of course, never happened, and Roger's now in third place on the all-time list (which was likely going to happen anyway seeing as they're both younger than him).

Part of what made the Big Three Era so special was that they all had ownership of a specific Grand Slam.  Nadal, of course, wins the French Open every year, and Djokovic has won the Australian Open nine times.  Roger's tournament is and will always be Wimbledon.  He won it eight times, including five straight from 2003-07 (he also won five straight US Opens from 2004-08).  So, it's perhaps fitting that Roger's goodbye to Grand Slam tennis was that ceremony at Wimbledon this year celebrating 100 years of Centre Court.

Perhaps my favorite Roger Federer moment came after he won his final Wimbledon title in 2017.  Prince William & Kate were the first ones to greet him after he went up the stairs into the clubhouse (well, the first ones after his wife!).  And the then-Duchess of Cambridge got the triple cheek kiss!  It's a traditional greeting elsewhere in Europe, but in Great Britain, it's considered a tremendous breach of royal protocol.  For anyone except Roger Federer!  (She didn't seem to mind, either.)

My other favorite Federer moment at Wimbledon was the 2009 final against Andy Roddick.  Roger won 16-14 in the fifth and, in his on-court interview after the match, I'll never forget what Roddick said, "Maybe I need to punch him or something."  It spoke perfectly to the frustration Roddick must've felt about getting to so many Grand Slam finals...and always losing to Federer!

At the US Open, another tournament Roger won five times in a row, two losses stand out.  The first is the 2009 final against Juan Martin Del Potro, which was the first of five straight rain-delayed Monday finals, where he lost in five to snap his 40-match US Open winning streak.  I bring up the roof because a few years later, I went to a Lady Gaga concert at Citi Field in the pouring rain...while Roger was playing his match next door under the roof.

Then, of course, there was that epic semifinal against Djokovic the following year, when Roger had two match points in the fifth set, but Djokovic saved them both (including one with a ridiculous backhand!) and eventually ended up winning.  It's one of two epic losses to the other members of the Big Three, along with that 2008 Wimbledon final against Nadal that had like six rain delays!

This last stat is perhaps the most shocking...Federer and Nadal never met at the US Open!  It almost happened a few times, but one of them lost the round before the potential matchup each time.  So, that's the one match we would've loved to see but won't get the chance to.  It's fun to imagine how electric a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium would've been for that one though!  And you know who I would've been cheering for in it!