Sunday, May 31st...After a very late night voice chat (yo!!, common on weekends), I had slept hoping to get up late and was woken up by a phone call at 9 am..The voice, which sounded like he had suddenly got a lifeline, started with a Hello....I immediately knew Rafael was out of Roland Garros...He ended with "Have a great day buddy".....(I wont take his name, cos patrons of this blog will not like it..LOL)...
My mind went overdrive worrying about the person who I believed would win after Rafael had lost... Some Roger guy... OK, the great RF... I instantly thought "Please no.....please"... I knew that a win here for Roger, would surely make my word redundant/irrelevant(not that a few people gave weightage to it anyway :D).. Sadistic or whatever u want to term it, I don't care, I just followed my heart..
14 slams now for Federer and counting.(abba, he hasn't overtaken Pete yet :))..Having won slams on all surfaces along with his remarkable consistency, he rightfully can claim to be greatest..
But... There is something about Sampras, that I refuse to let go of him as the best player I have seen on a tennis court... May be the emotions he could stir up, that mental fortitude, that walking-on-water belief, that unbelievable slam dunk smash, those magical 2nd serve aces at 0-40..
May be I am biased, hell I am, but for me Sampras is still the best.. Its not logical, but heyy, I truly love my champion...
I don't think any sportsman has had such an impact on me (maybe Ganguly, Tendulkar and Dhoni are close!!)... I remember watching the 1994 Wimbledon final at home in Hyderabad.. All 4 of us watching the match on a Sunday evening, Dad and lil bro vociferously rooting for Ivanisevic and me for the great man.... I prevailed.. I remember the fist clinch and the cry "Come onnnnn Pete!!!"....They made fun of Pete hanging his tongue out like a dog, when asking for ball from the ball boy... But that habit I tried to ape too, albeit unsuccesfully.. :-)
Cut to 1995.. Wimbledon semifinal... Pete v Goran again... Pete was on a hat-trick of Wimbs having won in 1993 and 1994... He lost a set and I thought the hat-trick won't happen.. Imagine a 11 year old crying for loss of a tennis set.. I did...I heard advice from Dad and Mom that its not good to cry in sport.. I just refused to listen.. I couldn't stop...Pete had such an impact on me...I looked up to him.. I must have celebrated like mad that day, when the great man overcame Goran...
In the school summer holidays in Mangalore at Grandpa's in the mid 90s, we did not have cable television, so I couldn't watch French open...I used to be half scared to open the morning papers, to see the results...I feared that Pete might have lost... He dint do justice to his talents and dint try hard enough at the French.. That will remain a blemish... One that I shall regret..
I remember waiting for the Sportstar magazine edition, whenever Pete won Wimbledon, hoping to read a lot of articles that eulogized the champion and also see that exclusive Sportstar poster of Pete holding the trophy aloft..
Clearly, this Pete obsession is something I can't overcome...
Well played Roger..U are a legend... (Get up Rafael... Go get him mate.. Go now!!)...
But Pete, you are my undisputed champion mate... By head, by heart and by Jove... :)
