Winds of change in tennis: Is age taking its toll?

Andy Murray with his Wimbledon Championships Trophy

The most famous fortnight of the year ended last night with the end of a 77 year wait for the host country. Andy Murray finally exorcised his inner demons of self doubt to rip through World No.1 Novak Djokovic and finally achieved his dream of winning on the biggest stage in tennis.

It wasn’t a very intensely fought, edge of the seat thriller that the Centre Court of London SW19 has come to expect at the finals in recent years, but a rather tame surrender from a tired Djokovic, who has had to endure the mental strain of a tough loss at Nadal’s hands last month in Paris and a physical battle in the semi final against the giant Argentine Del Potro.

That four-and-a-half hour battle clearly took its toll on the Serb’s body, which had only a day in between to recuperate. That said however, it was one of Murray’s most authoritative performances in his career as he made Novak fight hard for every point and showed his mental strength in the third set when Djokovic was looking to sneak a foot in the door. Murray, now has the big monkey off his back, and an entire nation can breathe easy again.

This Wimbledon has however planted a big seed of doubt in the minds of tennis fans about the future of two of the greatest players of all time. The shocking method in which Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer,with 29 grand slams between them, exited from the tournament in the opening rounds was something even Octopus Paul wouldn’t have predicted. Both the players were pre-tournament favourites, and fans were already feasting on the prospect of a quarter-final showdown between the two greats.

It was not to be however as a certain Steve Darvis, whose best performance in a grand slam had been reaching the 2^nd round and who had lost in 12 of his 18 grand slam appearances in the first round, caused the biggest upset of the tournament by knocking out Nadal in the 1^st round in straight sets.

Sergiy Stakhovsky then caused an even bigger upset by knocking out the defending and seven times Wimbledon champion Roger Federer in the 2^nd round, in what was a day of upsets and injured retirements.

Roger Federer’s aura of invincibility has slowly diminished over the past couple of years. He is 31, on the verge of turning 32, and at that age tennis players are usually languishing somewhere in the bottom of the ATP rankings. That applies only to mortals however, as Federer is still ranked in the top 5, and has slipped out of the top 3 for the first time in a decade after this year’s early exit at Wimbledon.

Sadly though, his title winning streak has diminished in the past two years, and players who were a walk over for him in his heydays are now stretching him into five setters. The best tennis he has played in the year gone by has possibly been at last year’s Wimbledon final where he came back from a set down against Murray and, in an almost awe inspiring manner, tore him apart in the next three.

Federer’s fans were delighted by his seeming return to top form as he went on to win Silver Medal in the singles event at the London Olympics a month later. Since then, he hasn’t been able to win any major event in tennis and like with all great sportsmen, age has had a lot to do with it. Federer’s grace and elegance and sheer dominance was what earned him his 17 grand slam titles and millions of fans over the world, and now those fans have to accept the harsh reality of Federer’s dip in form and the inevitable ‘R’ word.

Federer though will still believe he has enough gas left in the tank for one last hurrah, for adding one last trophy to that enviable lot that adorns his living room. The most likely place for that title seems to be Wimbledon, Federer’s second home, where he has ruled like a mighty emperor in the last decade.

That will depend on a lot of factors though, like the draw handed to him and the positions of the other top ranked players and perhaps a few lucky upsets. Federer remains, despite his current form, a great champion, and tennis will indeed become very poor indeed when that the Maestro decides to hang up his racquet.

End of the road for Rafael Nadal?

Rafael Nadal had made one of the great comebacks of all time, when he returned to competitive tennis in February after almost 8 months and then won 7 of the 9 tournaments he played in. The cherry on top was an unprecedented 8^th title at Roland Garros, his 12^th grand slam title overall.

He arrived in London without any practice whatsoever on grass, in order to rest those tired knees. Even then, he was considered amongst the favourites to lift a 3^rd title at the Championships. The first day of the tournament brought in front of us a reality that was hitherto almost unimaginable.

Nadal fell to a player ranked 130 places behind him in straight sets. What was more disturbing than the loss itself was the manner in which it happened. Rafa’s knees were subjected to torture on a hard surface, and with his backhand all but working; he had to run around most of the balls to play them off the forehand. Lack of practice clearly showed, and what also became blatantly clear was that the knees could no longer take the pressure of carrying that muscular body on a hard court.

The soft clay of Paris has had a major impact on Rafa’s dominance on those courts. The clay is softer on his knees, and he has to bend little to play the ball that comes up at a good playable height. Grass however, isn’t as good natured as you have to bend a lot more to play the ball at the perfect height.

This is not taking away anything out of his victories at Roland Garros, he has been utterly magnificent in every match he has played in Paris. His game, which consists of a lot of power delivery and lengthy rallies and long runs, is what puts his knees under tremendous pressure and doesn’t allow him to maintain the same tempo on the hard courts that clay allows.

His season has traditionally been off-colour post Wimbledon in the recent years, and many suspect him to take another short leave to get his body to optimum fitness. There are doubts though, in every tennis fan’s minds, if Rafa can ever win any major outside of Paris again.

Both the Australian Open and US Open are played on hard synthetic courts, and Wimbledon’s grassy surface is just as hard, if not more. It will take a lot of exertion, both physical and mental, if Rafa is win a Slam on these courts. He is 28 now, and time is running out for him quickly.

The great Boris Becker had mentioned a few years back that he didn’t expect Rafa to keep going after 28-29 because of the physically taxing nature of his game, and Rafa’s fans will be hoping with crossed fingers that Becker’s prophecy doesn’t come true.

This however, has shifted the limelight on Murray and Djokovic, two players who were almost like secondary warriors when the great gladiators were fighting historic battles in the four great cities of the world. Djokovic and Murray have contested three of the last four Grand Slam finals, a period that has definitely marked a change of guard at the top of the pecking order.

Djokovic is expected to win any match he plays these days, much like Federer was, and Murray remains his biggest threat for now. With age on their side, and both players in the form of their careers, we will certainly have no end to the exciting battles that the two aging gladiators gave us all these years.