A True Champion...
Hi Friends,
It has been a month since Rafael Nadal won his second US
Open and his 13th Grand Slam. Also it has been a month since my
close friend Ravikirana asked me to write a column on our favorite Tennis
player and athlete Rafa. A lot has been written already on the great comeback
the Spaniard has made this year missing almost 7 precious months in his Tennis
career. So to make my friend Ravi happy I had to write a bit different and he
also knows it takes lot of time for me to bring out a column.
We all know in every sport, in fact in any competition, at a
given point of time, there will be a champion and one or more challengers. The
equation between the Champion and his challenger is very interesting and unique
for every pair. At one side, a champion who is challenged by a worthy challenger
can be dethroned or on the other side, the tougher champion may get better each
time the challenge is thrown at him/her. Without a challenger or just a
challenge, one cannot be crowned as the Champion, he/she should be challenged
now and then to the brink so that the Championship material comes out glowing!
The world has seen many such Champion-Challenger duos, to keep it just for
Tennis and to name a FEW we had Pete Sampras throughout the 1990s. Though he
won his first grand slam in 1990 but he announced himself as a champion only
after his first Wimbledon win in 1993. But during that gap he was never a
challenger and I don’t remember if he had reached any Grand Slam finals during
that period. In 1993 everyone noticed him as a champion only, not lesser than
that. Barring Rolland Garros he won everything which came in his way. He
remained No. 1 for six consecutive year ends from 1993-98. There were few
challengers to him but the most notable one was his fellow countryman Andre
Agassi. Though equally gifted player he was he had to fight hard against Pistol
Pete to make his mark and create some tenure for himself on the throne. He
stayed and remembered mostly as a challenger than a champion. A brief period in
1995, a year or so during 1999-2000 and a brief stint in 2003 were the times
when Agassi took over the reins of No. 1. Though he won all the grand slams and
an Olympic Gold Medal, he ended his career with tally of 8 grand slams against
Pete’s 14. Then arrived Roger Federer, just destined to be a champion. He too
like Pete was never a challenger. He got noticed when he defeated Pete in the
first round of Wimbledon 2002, but his announcement as a champion came one year
after when he won the next edition of All England championship. He decimated
everyone who came his way and suddenly tennis world started realizing that Pete
was the person of past and Roger was the next Big Thing of tennis.
Just a year and half after Roger took the control on entire
world of tennis, entered an interesting character. When he arrived, he neither
looked like a champion nor had any traits of a worthy challenger. His wore a
deceptive look, as he looked like a brat who can play more of a football than
tennis. The way he used to run around
the court was amazing as he looked never tiring and the way he moved it seemed
like the court is smaller compared to his reach. As soon as he arrived he just
stunned everyone by stopping the champion at the so called one final step (Rolland
Garros) of achieving the greatness. And such a hurdle he proved to be, he stood
there for the next 4 years firm and strong in the way of the champion. But
unlike Roger, at the time of his arrival he couldn’t announce himself as a
champion as he showed mastery over only one surface and not even a challenger
on other surfaces. But step by step, slowly and steadily, he started getting
closer to the challenger role, then mastering other surfaces also, not only he
was able to dethrone the champion but also was able to suck up the
self-confidence of the man who has been called the greatest of all times. He added a new dimension to the game, playing
from baseline, running hard, playing long rallies and tiring the opponent. After
Wimbledon and Olympic wins in 2008, for the first time since early 2004, there
was a new unique champion named Rafael Nadal.
Rolland Garros was anyways had become his fortress, but he snatched
Wimbledon from Roger, Conquered the Olympic Gold medal and won the Australian
Open in the quest for greatness. Since the champion was decimated already, who
will be the next challenger was the question. There was no one near, but to his
bad luck, the answer lied within. The ultimate challenger was his body itself. His
knee in particular started giving him trouble just into his first year of
ascending the throne. The things worsened as his fortress was breached for
first (and last time also till now) time in 2009 and he was out of action for a
year. Critics doubted his return to the glory as Federer regained the ground he
had lost to his toughest nemesis. But by that time, Rafa had already 6 Grand
slams in his kitty and he had conquered the grand slams on all the surfaces at
least once.
As I mentioned earlier Rafa has always been an unique personality,
also I feel and many other people will definitely agree, one of the best traits
of a true champion is to stage a comeback when down. With the kind of fighter Rafa
has been, the fans kept faith in him and in his fighting spirits. He underwent
rigorous training and rehabilitation and came back to the circuit fully fit in
2010. After he came back he didn’t like to be just sympathy gainer (usually
happens when one comes back after the injury break), he fought hard, he won his
fortress back, repeated the performance of 2008 in Wimbledon, and also
conquered the unconquered territory of US open to join the elite club of
players who have won all the slams at least once and in the process regaining
the World No. 1 ranking. 4 out of 5 Grand slams since his comeback and within a
period of just more than one year made all the critics bite their words. He
celebrated a great year of comeback but there was another challenge waiting for
him, this time it was outside, in the form another interesting character Serbia’s
Novak Djokovic. Djoker, as he is fondly called, touched the peak of his game
during the mid of 2011 seldom losing any match. Since June 2011, three grand
slam finals saw Rafa fighting hard against the new sensation and going down in
each of them. It was not as if Rafa was not playing well, but Djoker had taken
his game exponentially high to snatch the No. 1 ranking to become a new
Champion. But Rafa was not the one to go down meekly. Speaking to a media
person he told that he would beat Djoker in future and so he did in Rolland
Garros in 2012. He held his fortress to win his 11th grand slam
title and showed some glimpses to regain the crown he had lost a year back. But
the challenger within surfaced again and this time in a more serious fashion.
Rafa was ousted in second round match of Wimbledon 2012 which proved to be his
last match in that calendar year. This time the knee tendonitis was so serious that
not only critics but hard core fans also doubted his return. I was stunned after
reading a newspaper story which mentioned Rafa had this problem since his
younger days and the doctors had predicted only 2 years of tennis life. By that
time of reading, Rafa had already played 8 years and I was wondering how strong
his will power might be! After reading that I was convinced that he would be
staging comeback one day but when no one was sure, I think not even Rafa.
Now I am mentioning again, staging a comeback is one of the
traits of a true champion and Rafa had a big task to prove he was one. After
seven months of hiatus, he came back in Feb 2013, played couple of low profile
tournaments with very low expectations but still made it to finals in both of
them winning the second. The fire was back in his eyes, the legs were gaining
momentum, the quest for glory returned as he kept on winning title by title
defeating every other better ranked player. He retained his fortress becoming
the first tennis player among men to win a grand slam title staggering 8 times.
Though he bowed out in the first round of Wimbledon raising few eye brows, but
there were no such hiccups when the Hard court season started. Again he
defeated every one on the surface which was termed not suited for his kind of
play and the ultimate result was winning the US Open for second time and taking
the tally of grand slam victories to 13 which is just 4 short of Federer and 1
short of Pete Sampras. This victory brought him to pedestal of regaining the
crown, the No. 1 ranking. Just one more final appearance needed to achieve that
feat and without any doubts Rafa completed the formality with ease in China Open.
What had seemed to be impossible 7 months back was made possible and look easy.
The win-loss record for the year stood at amazing 66-4 after the China Open
final. Just I would like the readers to remember that Agassi also had made such
a comeback in 1999 but at that time Sampras was showing the signs of fading
out. In comparison Djokovic is younger to Rafa and has many years of tennis
career left in him. Dethroning such a player is more difficult but as I said
before, Rafa is a true champion and he had to do that for just proving himself.
Grit, Hunger, Hard work, Self-confidence, never give up attitude made him regain
the No. 1 spot for the third time in his career and I am sure he will retain it
for a while.
Any article on Nadal would be incomplete if there is no
mention about his off field behavior. Though he looks like a hungry tiger on
the courts running hard like a big cat in search of its prey, but when he steps
out of the court he is as gentle as one can imagine. No one has seen him
undermining his opponents how lower ranking may be. On victory he is jubilant
but equally gracious in defeats also. No crying, no excuses, just giving proper
credit to the winning opponent. No fights with media, no bad behavior shown in
public and always content being away from the camera glare.
Life is full of adversities and pains and overcoming them is
a big challenge. One thing which we all can learn from Nadal is how to bear the
pain and how to fight it out during adversities. Though it was his body which
was coming in his way but he made his mind stronger to not let the former do
the ruling over the latter. If we gain that ability and make our mind stronger
than body we can achieve any goals we have set for ourselves.
Hats off Rafa!!! Vamosssss…….
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