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Location: Mysore, Karnataka, India

Wednesday, October 09, 2013

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…….


Regards,
Chetan 

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