Tennis: Dawn of a new era?

Sometimes numbers are just not numbers. Somewhere within them lies a story, a fact; a fact that is enough for the tennis world to foresee the future.

The last decade has been epic to say the least. Records were broken at will, the quality magnified from the years gone by and unprecedented clashes between two stalwarts of the men’s tennis world. One, the all-time greatest, and the other, the player who was the only one to constantly challenge him and break his fortress on numerous occasions. Undoubtedly, two of the greatest tennis players of our generation were Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The first played with ease and panache and the other gave tennis a new definition. The two were involved in some of the most historic and unbelievable battles. Unfortunately, they might be in the twilight of their glorious careers. This is where the figures shown in the beginning are of a lot of significance to a generation who were blessed to see the best of men’s tennis.

Seven months is the duration for which Rafa has been out of tennis due to a rather unfortunate knee injury. Injuries are not new to players, but for Rafa, they are of great importance. For a player who believes in returning the ball at any cost and play some unbelievably physical matches, a knee injury is the last thing he would wish for. Out of his 11 Grand Slams, 7 have come on clay, a surface which demands a lot of body fitness and which is very challenging to the body. He might be just 26 years old and might be determined even more after coming back from the injury, but a setback of this magnitude could ruin his rather glorious career. Having said that, we are still hopeful that the Spanish bull will see through the challenging times ahead. But if you go by Bjorn Borg’s words, “Nadal can never last long due to his extreme game style”, it seems highly unlikely that injuries will stay away from him in the future.

The other man, undoubtedly, is the greatest tennis player in the world. Fedex is, for sure, in the twilight of his career. 31 years, 173 days is the age of Federer, and by no means is he growing younger by the day. Having followed tennis ever since Federer began his journey to greatness, it is very clear to us Roger fans that his past ability to win Grand Slams without breaking a sweat is missing. The opponents are stronger, younger and fitter today. If Nadal was his main rival for all these years, now two more can be added to that list – World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and World No. 3 Andy Murray. The two 25-year-olds (Murray is 7 days older than Nole) have certainly raised their games so high that it is becoming increasingly difficult for Federer to win a Grand Slam. If I go a step forward, I would say it is unlikely we will be seeing the great Nadal-Federer Grand Slam finals again. A decade where the whole world was addicted to see these two battle it out in final after final, sadly, has ended.

But nothing is impossible for both these demi gods of tennis. Federer is still the World No. 2 at this age. He won Wimbledon just last year. Nadal is a fighter, he is young, and he could still break many records. But if you follow tennis without being hypothetical, then surely you will agree that Djokovic and Murray will likely fight it out in the future for many many Grand Slams. As another wonderful Australian Open concludes, it is clear that these two gentlemen have already given birth to a great rivalry. One only wishes that as Novak concludes his hat-trick of Australian Open wins, Murray’s winning percentage improves (he has won only 1 out of 6 Slams finals).

The tennis world will surely miss the quality and breath-taking rivalry between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. It is the dawn of a new era, surely!