7:00am: I actually woke up and jumped out of bed in one quick motion. I have a major presentation at work today in exactly 1 hour 30 minutes from now. Panic is settling in, need to get ready fast! This day is packed with a lot of different events/happenings but I have no time to think about all of them right now, one task at a time Ish, letās start with washing up and a quick breakfast.
7:33am: Out the door and in the car and already 3 minutes behind schedule according to my frantic glances at my watch. Please traffic gods, be kind this morning.
7:47am: Traffic isnāt bad actually! Maybe this will be a lucky day, I need the luck for the presentation, for the lunch meeting I have after that and then thereās Rogerā¦ NO! Stop it Ish! Weāre not there yet. We have the whole day to manage before we reach Roger, keep those butterflies out of your system for now.
8:00am: I was so super efficient that I reach my destination 30 minutes before my presentation and the office security has only just started to unlock the doors. Hmmm, maybe I can take a quick look at twitter on my phone, the TL seems extra busy today; excitement building up over HIS first match. A mental calculation tells me itās still at least 10 hours away. I wonder how heās feeling. Um Ish, heās not even up yet. Heās still sleeping while you look like a crazy woman pacing up and down the office lobby staring into your phone. Stop it!
8:30am: I am ready with my presentation. The audience however is not. Let us remember that this is a South Asian country where being on time is considered social faux pas. I drum my fingers on the table in impatience and nervous energy, this presentation is for the donors so a lot depends on this going smoothly. Is Rogerā¦ Uff! You idiot! Donāt you remember that heās still sleeping on his 1000 thread count bedsheets? You did a timezone check only 30 minutes ago! Itās 4:30am there, for goodness sake! I sip water to calm down.
8:45am: Here we go with the presentation! Oh, suddenly the micās not working? You mean I have to yell across the room to be heard over the ACs? Sure, no problem, my bad for expecting something more.
9:30am: Presentation done! Good questions were answered with good answers while stupid questions were answered as well as they could be, because duh, they were stupid questions. Now I can relax and watch the other projects get roasted, hehehe. Wait, so this means I can sneak peeks at twitter! And no Ish, heās still not awake so donāt even bothering wondering how heās feeling. Not yet.
12:00pm: Back in my own room at the office. Barely able to sit down before a colleague comes rushing in with some emergency. I look up in the midst of this conversation to see another colleague hovering in the back waiting to catch my attention. This was going to be one of those days. I reluctantly put the phone aside, minimize the twitter tab on my desktop and open up excel files with a sigh.
1:00pm: Lunch meeting at the restaurant downstairs with my supervisor and her supervisor. I hate lunch meetings. Itās never about the lunch and always about the meeting. To a foodie like me, thatās just insulting. But this wasnāt my call so I head downstairs. Coming down the stairs I realize its 9:00am in Monaco, Roger must be awake by now! Is he nervous? Is he super chill? Would have been nice if Mirka was there but looking through twitter it doesnāt seem like anyone has seen her.
1:25pm: Meeting hasnāt started and I am starving. Why? Because being on time is a social faux pas, remember?
2:45pm: Lunch meeting done. I barely remember what I ate. It was some kind of pasta that was supposed to be eaten hot but had significantly cooled because I had to spend my time talking instead. Boo!
3:00pm: Back in my office room but this time, there is no line of colleagues waiting for me; alone at last! I plop down on my chair, exhausted but content. The lunch meeting had gone well, despite the sorry pasta, the presentation had gone well, especially when compared to the ones that followed, hee hee. This was a good day! So then why am I feeling nauseous suddenly? I am still feeling nervous; residual adrenaline? What IS IT?
4:00pm: Relaxing music on youtube fill my ears through headphones. I have been mostly undisturbed the past hour yet my anxiety is not going away. I drank water, I had tea, but nothing is helping. Am I falling ill?
4:10pm: YOU ARE SO STUPID ISH! Of course you are nervous! ROGER FEDERER IS ABOUT TO PLAY HIS FIRST MATCH IN OVER 2 MONTHS! AND YOU DONāT EVEN HAVE A PILLOW TO SCREAM INTO! *sigh* It’s actually been so long since I’ve watched tennis that I had forgotten what pre-match nerves were like. Damn Roger, youāve been gone a while! š„
5:00pm: All my things are gathered, desktop already shut down, I am ready to head home. My colleagues eye me suspiciously until one of them quips up āIs anything wrong? You never leave before 6:00pm!ā I say I am exhausted from the dayās meetings and the presentation so I shall leave at a normal time for once. Count this as lie #1,457 that I have had to tell my office peeps because of Roger.
5:10pm: In my car. Please hang in there Pierre-Hugues Herbert! Delay Andy till I get home!
6:15pm: I am home! And Pierre listened! Roger’s match is going to start more than an hour late. I have plenty of time to prepare.
7:40pm: THERE HE ISSSSSS! Walking out on court with a smile on his face! The crowd erupts! I squeal loudly! I cannot believe heās back! And guess what! There is Mirka! And Lynette too! YAY! My TL on twitter is full and chatty and excited, how I missed this too! *happy tear*
8:00pm: Roger seemed a bit nervous in the beginning but heās settling in. Ahhh… that service motion is still as beautiful as it ever was. Heās so quick between the points too. Lopez is making him run but he seems more than ready for it. No issues with the knee that I can see.
8:15pm (approx): The first set is done! He was helped by Lopez a bit in getting the break but then faced 2 break points while consolidating. Nonetheless he held his nerve and soon, one set was in the bag!
8:30pm (approx): Roger is definitely back. Snapping beautiful cross-court forehands and that backhand looks luscious! In fact, Roger looks delicious himself. That kit is beautiful. A lovely maroon shirt paired with bluish gray/grayish blue shorts. Rich colour tones that looked velvety. Actually, he reminded me of my favorite cupcakes ever, the royalty of all cupcakes, the Red Velvet. See? I have proof!8:45pm (approx): Serving for the match at 5*-2 and Roger gets broken. Why Roger why? Well I can imagine why, he got nervous serving it out and Lopez picked that very moment to play better than he had played the whole match. So close, but we are not done yet.
8:55pm (approx): Letās try this again at 5*-4 shall we? Much better job this time around, leaving no room for doubt or error and its Game, Set, Match Federer! My TL erupts and I clap my hands and yell YES! My cat looks at me with disdain but I donāt care!
9:00pm (approx): Looking back on the whole day, I feel a different sense of accomplishment from the one I felt this morning after my presentation. There is a special brand of exhilaration in a shared experience of winning a match, with fans from all over the world; to be a part of something bigger than oneself. I had missed being a part of this community. Had my presentation gone badly and if my meetings had sucked, the day would have still been saved by Roger and my fellow fans. You make my world a better place Roger, please donāt leave us again like that.
The past two months, my world didnāt stop. The earth didnāt stop rotating, my work didnāt stop piling up, my cat didnāt stop being fiercely over-protective of me, and I didnāt stop my obsession with desserts. But this unique experience of being a Roger Federer fan was missing in my life and my days were less bright without him. Whenever anything negative happened I could usually count on Roger to cheer me up but not these past two months.
His absence made me realize a few truths. 1. My life will continue without him but it wonāt be quite as fun 2. I have to try and learn not to depend on him solely for my source of positivity, though he makes it so easy. 3. I donāt like or watch tennis at all without Roger. Maybe this will change once he retires and I find the new generation compelling enough. But in the meantime, while I missed him tremendously, I didnāt miss Rogerless-tennis at all. For me there is no point in watching it without him and so I didnāt. 4. I really do like being a member of this Roger community and even though I didnāt tweet as much during this break I always checked my timeline to see how everyone is doing. So this post is dedicated to my wonderful twitter people and to @EfieZac in particular because her DMs inspired me to write this post. Love you Efie! ā¤
Meanwhile, Roger is due on court in less than 3 hours so Iāll sign off by leaving this hot shot clip from that match right here to get you ready for today. Good luck Maestro!
***Photos are Getty Images from Zimbio.com***