“Dear Youngest Federer, by the time you are old enough to understand this, your father won’t be the player he once was. So this is for you, from those of us who were there, just to tell you who he was.
He was a champion like tennis had never seen. He was like a page out of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue. He was so graceful, he made ballet dancers want to burn their shoes. He was fast, but not so you’d notice. He was powerful, but, like a Ferrari not a forklift. They all came at him, and they all fell to him, major after major, year after year.
Your father dominated his sport the way avalanches dominate trees. And yet he was so humble and decent that it became no shame to lose to him. In fact, it became a kind of honor. To lose to Roger Federer meant you were woven into the fabric of sports history. And what a history he wrote.
You will read about it someday and it will shock you. But his finest moment might have been a sun-splashed sunday at Wimbledon, when he passed Pete Sampras record for majors with 15. Some thought we might not ever see that day. Thought he’d be past by younger bulkier models. But they were wrong. Gods do not get passed.
This August, you will come along and tennis will be less important, majors will become minor, trophies will become teething rings, and your father’s perfect life, will, somehow, get even better.”
That being said, I would be remiss not to post a few pictures of Tennis' first family (as far I'm concerned):
 |
| CUTIES!! Charlene Riva and Myla Rose |
 |
| Daddy and Daughter |
 |
| Mirka, The Wife |
 |
| Mr. & Mrs. Federer |
 |
| This is when I realized he was lost to me forever! |
No comments:
Post a Comment