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Third seeded Roger Federer, 29, played below par on Tuesday, but still defeated crowd favourite Frenchman Gael Monfils in straight sets. Now he will meet the in-form second-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic, 24, in the semi-final. Novak has not lost a single match in 2011.
Kersi finishes Vinay Verma’s last column
The encounter between a former champ and a future star will be the highlight of the Championship. And thereby hangs a tale, more poignant than just a tennis tournament.
On March 6 this year, The Roar’s popular and esteemed columnist Vinay Verma had started writing a post on Roger Federer for The Roar.
It would have been his 97th column. But it was not completed. Vinay passed away suddenly with the computer on his lap as he watched the England versus South Africa World Cup cricket match on television.
His son Paul came across this unfinished symphony on Vinay’s laptop last Sunday and e-mailed it to me.
The posthumous post is reproduced below, which includes some Vinayisms. For example, “Andy Murray the Scot, a man free but not independent, much like his country.”
The title gives me goose bumps as it mentions immortality. Perhaps immortality means how one is remembered when one passes away.
Federer, the Genius Engine, Parked in Immortality (by Vinay Verma)
Swiss ace Roger Federer will not win every tennis match he plays in 2011. Rankings and prize money are secondary to him. He is playing only for immortality. He has been the best tennis player on the planet for a decade. He is simply the best there has ever been.
The affection that Laver has for Federer reminds me of what Don Bradman had said about Sachin Tendulkar in a remark to his wife: “He reminds me of myself.”
What then of those that have gone before and those that share the present? Rafael Nadal tortures his body to impossible exertions. He is a great tennis player but not the greatest. Novak Djokovic, is forever doubting he belongs on the same stage, even when he wins against the King. Andy Murray the Scot will always be the bridesmaid, a man free but not independent, much like his country.
Rod Laver, who many consider the greatest, would bow to the imperious Swiss. Laver was the best till Federer came along. The bar has been raised and may never be attained by anyone else.
His last book was titled Quest for Perfection, and this is what keeps the watch ticking. If ever there was a perfect mesh of mind and machinery, Federer is the defining prototype.
— (The end, but not the end)
The title of that piece is from a book called The Genius Engine, which Vinay had read but I have not. Perhaps a Roarer may throw some light.
Federer, ranked no. 3 in the world, said that world no. 1 Nadal will be under loads of mental pressure if he faces Djokovic, to whom Rafa has lost in his last four finals, all coming in Masters Series finals in Indian Wells, Miami and more recently on the clay courts of Madrid and Rome.
But he has to beat Federer first, a daunting task.
Modest and understated, Federer believes that Spanish Nadal is still the favourite to win a sixth French Open title. Federer’s win-loss ratio over Novak Djokovic is 13-9 but he has lost to his younger rival all three times in 2011.
Will Roger, the Genius Engine of Vinay’s description, cause an upset by winning on clay this weekend?