Roger Federer: Dancing with defeat could hurt his hunger for tennis

Roger Federer

The fault lines are deepening for Roger Federer and the creases on his forehead are turning prominent. Time it seems is in no mood to play ball with the ageing Swiss. It mattered little to the ultimate foe that the man standing in its court is a 17 time grand slam champion who prompted an eloquent David Wallace to take shelter in religion. At 32, Federer is in the throes of a decline that is beginning to gnaw his mind and stain his soul.

Fans and scribes alike can only speculate and ruminate, but only Federer knows his ailment. He has an eminent doctor in his camp, but based on the evidence available it appears even Paul Annacone may not have a cure. So it falls upon Federer to wage a lone battle against the most unforgiving of enemies.

Suddenly, Federer resembles a child surrounded by hyenas. We know him for a man driven by an intense appetite for everything tennis, but his repeated dalliance with defeat threatens to consume his hunger.

The great Swiss has left men, women and children numb in delight at the remarkable beauty of his genius. But the most astounding thing about his career is not that he can produce surreal tennis; that has long been an accepted form of alternate reality.

It is the impossible consistency with which he produced his alluring magic that has left even the most hardnosed connoisseurs singing his hymns. Suddenly though, it seems that the Swiss is slowly losing the tools of his esoteric trade.

The forehand has long been his staunchest ally, but even she seems ready to betray its master in the autumn of gloried existence. In the past a well-directed serve would help Federer stave off the odd moment of danger, oddly now, he seems to struggle to find one that can avert constant danger.

In his prime, Federer used to shank a few only to draw a chuckle from himself and an amused crowd. Now the same shank has turned into a perilous habit that rears its head at the most inopportune moment. There ain’t no chuckle any more for even the subjects understand that the imperious man does not deserve to be slighted.

Federer is still capable of insane brilliance, but he can only produce it intermittently. Is this the same man who wrote poetry with his racket, while dancing with almost Nureyev like elegance and grace? One can only wonder, because what was once a steady flow has now turned into an occasional trickle.

Even in his loss against Gael Monfils on Thursday, Federer did his best to beguile us. But this time it wasn’t his sweeping rendition that left us in thrall. Instead it was a spirited fight back from his shadow, from the throes of defeat after slipping to a break in the second set.

He overcame a 3-5 deficit in the ensuing breaker to offer a sense of assurance to his worried fans; but it lasted only as briefly as might a navy shower. Ironical, given how Federer might have ridden that huge momentum shift just a while ago to crush the deluded hopes of his opponent.

Instead, these days it is Federer whose hopes are crushed with alarming regularity. The signs have been distressing all season, but the heaviest concern has been the fact that Federer has lost against journeymen without ever threatening a different result. Not too long ago, he had their scalps for an appetizer before the main course.

There are two tournaments before the grand finale in London and Federer is far from certain of his place at a tournament he’s practically owned for the better part of the past decade. That in a way explains how difficult the season has been for the struggling Swiss.

Federer has collected just the one trophy this year – from the lowly 250 event at Halle. The Swiss has managed a meager 3,055 points so far this season, his poorest showing since 2002. That was the year before he broke into the grand slam club with a memorable victory over Andy Roddick at Wimbledon.

Incidentally, the last grand slam success for Federer also came at Wimbledon when he won his 17^th major title last year. As would any top athlete, Federer has been spectacularly positive in his responses to the probing questions about his future.

At some point soon, Federer needs to turn around his fortunes or suffer the indignity of facing some really uncomfortable questions even from within his camp. The silver lining of a poor season lay in the fact that even a moderately better 2014 will glow radiantly, especially if he is able to somehow gain an 18^th grand slam title.

In the meantime, we can only wait eagerly to watch if the great man is indeed ready to put the miseries of this season behind him. And somehow rediscover the magical tricks that made him the wizard that he indeed was.