Ted Green: Roger Federer is a great -- and humble -- tennis icon
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What a picture that was, the mother of all tennis photo ops.
Like Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, carved into the granite of a symbolic national structure, there were Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer, the Mt. Rushmore of men’s tennis.
And now Federer, that impeccably elegant, perfect Swiss timepiece, is the grandest champion of all, better than everybody else, the first face on the tennis mountain that all eyes will be drawn to.
For those of us raised on the thrilling and also childishly embarrassing but distinctly American court antics of Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe, Federer is an acquired taste. But well worth the time it may have taken to acquire it.
Imagine a champion who doesn’t pound his chest or beat an opponent, then verbally humiliate him. What a pleasure to see such a throwback. Federer is like Joe DiMaggio, all style and substance, grace and humility. And no small postscript, his talent is totally off the charts too.
After four-plus hours and a will-this-ever-end?16-14 fifth set, in a display of power tennis that was awesome to behold, you were reminded of the ‘Thrilla in Manila’: two great heavyweights landing haymakers until only one, the great Muhammad Ali, could be left standing.
It being staid and proper Wimbledon, in that most conservative of sports cathedrals, it seemed fair to call it a ‘Thrilla in Vanilla.’ Except there was nothing routine or ordinary about Federer’s win over a palpably exhausted, emotionally stricken but awfully game Andy Roddick.
Federer’s sixth Wimbledon title is his 15th in a slam, counting five U.S. Opens, three Australians and one just last month, his first one, on the torturous red clay at the French.
No slouch at gracefulness himself, Sampras flew into England at the eleventh hour to witness it. And it made the moment at the All-England Club all the more special and complete and right that Sampras was there to personally pass the torch.
Having traveled to London to cover five Wimbledons during the era of Borg, McEnroe and Connors, it’s interesting to note that Federer’s evenness, his calm, reserved Scandinavian temperament, is the same quality that makes him somehow boring for those fans who prefer their sports heroes wear their hearts on their sleeves.
But it is that same quality that will allow Federer, a month from his 28th birthday, which is certainly old in tennis, to continue competing at a high level for several more years. By contrast, Borg burned out from the pressure to win majors at just 26 and McEnroe, far too intense, was effectively spent around the same age.
And one final reference to Manila versus Vanilla: Like Ali, Federer is now The Greatest of All Time. Only unlike Ali in the fight game, in Fed’s game, there is no one else left in the discussion.
-- Ted Green
Green formerly covered tennis for the L.A. Times. He is currently Senior Sports Producer for KTLA Prime News.