Blaze of Glory

September 13, 2015 by rogerfedererfan 19 Comments

Fine Roger Federer, I give up. I relent. You have forced me to come out of my self-imposed hiatus and write something, anything, just to capture this moment in time. You have made an amazing run all the way to the final of the US Open and now I have to write. You just had to go and be awesome. Ughhh.

Here I was, quietly minding my business while catching bits of tennis on the side (your matches were mostly all I watched). With each match I saw you cut through your quarter and then your half of the draw. With every win I could sense I was about to get overly excited but then just in the nick of time I would manage to reprimand myself: “No! This is good that he won and I am very grateful that he made it this far, but anything after this is a bonus so NO! Don’t get your hopes up! Just …. NO.”

But you weren’t happy with simply winning were you? No, you had to win each match Comprehensively. Completely. Totally. Why haven’t you dropped a set yet Roger? Why? Your opponents even had break points and poor Philipp actually broke you twice. But you had the audacity to win those sets anyway. You see what this does? This makes you seem infallible. And no one is infallible Roger, we know this, you and I. So why hasn’t the shoe dropped yet?

I used to know how to process the US Open. Ever since 2009, that Grand Slam has been a nightmare. The hours are crazy and I have horrible memories of watching painful losses at 3am in the morning. The US Open to me has been that really oily plate of fries you know you shouldn’t eat, but you are hanging out with all your friends so you eat them anyway, knowing they will make you sick in the morning. And like clockwork, you wake up the next day clutching your stomach in pain and cursing at yourself for being stupid and never learning. The US Open is unhealthy for me. It robs me of my sleep, makes me ill and also makes me angry for putting myself through it each year.

But that was the past 6 years. What happened to that routine Roger? All of a sudden, now you are back in the US Open final. You have thrown out all my safety nets. This is now uncharted territory. I don’t know what to do with myself. I could list out your fabulous records that you set to get here:

Roger Federer has reached his 7^th US Open Final, his 27^th Grand Slam final, his 133^rd career final and his 9^th final of the year.
Roger Federer also reached his 38^th Grand Slam SF and 46^th Grand Slam QF.
Roger Federer has won 297 Grand Slam matches out of 345 that he has played.
Roger Federer has won 78 matches at the US Open
Roger Federer has played 1,281 career matches and has won 1,047 of them.
This is the first time Roger Federer has not dropped a set till the final at a Grand Slam since Wimbledon 2008

But all this does is make me even more greedy. You are fantastic Roger. I keep running out of superlatives to describe you. But I have conflicting emotions about how quickly you can get my hopes up despite my best intentions. I am trying to stay level-headed but you are making it very difficult. I don’t know what will happen in a few hours from now. I am nervous, pessimistic and excited all at once with a steady undercurrent of feeling nauseous.

I think if I keep writing this post I will soon start to write things that don’t make sense. So I shall end with saying: leave your heart out there Roger. You have broken all the rules and expectations by getting here. No point in playing it safe now. You have nothing to lose and only glory to gain. Might as well fight till the last breath.

I know the lyrics don’t match up to your situation word for word Roger but the mood conveys how I am feeling now. Give ‘em hell Maestro!