Wimbledon 2013: Titans fall, but the show must go on

Roger Federer lost to Sergiy Stakhovsky in the 2nd round of Wimbledon 2013

Longevity, epochs and fables – these are not merely adjectives used to describe players like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. These are adornments that can only be garnered when excellence pours forth, continuous and uninterrupted, making the world to stand up and take notice of it.

But as the time-span on the longevity starts to get measured, the duration of the epochs begin to be calculated and the litany of fables starts to get quantified instead of multiplying; that’s perhaps the right time to leave them be. Not look beyond them as such, but definitely not expect them to conjure up miracles when struck in a tight spot, time after time.

It’s not an easy feeling to sustain. The entire persona of a fan would revolt against it. Steve Darcis and Sergiy Stakhovsky are probably even getting ‘dark looks’ from all over the world for their unexpectedly stunning display of marauding tennis to overwhelm these unconditional favourites. The Federer fan in me protests too against this unanticipated turnabout. But there’s not much that I or for that matter, any other fan can do about it.

Already the tennis world appears to have moved on, after giving a complementary display of muteness akin to silence at a respected dignitary’s funeral service at these two legends’ shock upsets. They now belong in the past, with their titles and seeding having no bearing upon the remainder of the tournament and the rest bidding to go the distance. It’s mostly about Murray and Djokovic now, the comparatively newer-generation who have taken centre-stage and towards whom eyes are reverted, awaiting a new champion to be coronated.

That’s how it was in the past, when Federer and Nadal were vying for the crown. A similar pall of gloom would have gone around in Sampras‘s corner when Federer upset the American way back in 2001 just as an equally huge sense of shock pervaded when he was left on the losing side after playing a mammoth five-setter against his Spanish rival. And this is how the future will pan out. If Murray and Djokovic represent tennis‘s present, there would be someone else who would represent its future, bringing the chapter of victory and loss to a full circle.

However in spite of this awareness, the manner of defeats and eventual dethroning will always continue to remain a mystery. Injuries, age, lack of practice or even inability to adjust to newer playing conditions or simply a sudden desire to take a backseat from one’s life-long passion; the causes could be various but at the end of the day, these causes are merely handy tools for nature to take its own recourse in well-set plans.

Fans, of course would defend the losses and even try to come up a reasonable argument for the defeats. My subjectivity towards Federer still refuses to give up stating his case over and over again after his loss to the Ukrainian. But however rational and pragmatic the explanations for players‘ losses, they end up as mere excuses against nature, not helping the players at all. Be it as it may, fans’ outcries of slippery courts and difficult playing conditions haven’t really done Federer and Nadal any favours but have rather evoked an official statement emphasising on the quality of the playing surface from the tournament officials.

The least then that fans can do is accept these defeats graciously; as graciously as the victories of the past have been welcomed and cherished. The next tournament’s always around and knowing that these players won’t be going anywhere – if they can help it – maybe their next attempt would indeed bag them yet another Slam.

Federer and Nadal – The legendary duo

Number-crunching however is the domain of statisticians, and both Federer and Nadal have provided aplenty to keep the statisticians busy. They are undoubtedly the greatest, as the number-crunchers themselves would agree. A loss or two doesn’t really matter then. Their names find mention in almost all of the roll-calls of tennis honours and will continue do so, in spite of these early shockers.

They are stand-alone epitomes of peerless eminence and nothing’s ever going to change that. Not now, not ever. This then is the ultimate miracle to behold and marvel at, for eternity to come.