Summing up Roger's clay season

It's been too long since I've written a blog post, between busyness at work where I'm doing a ton of typing, plus getting up early every morning to watch tennis. So I'm going to do a casual post and at least give a few of my thoughts on Federer's French Open.

First of all, I know many Federer fans are very disappointed that he didn't go further, given his good draw and the form he seemed to be in.  Obviously I was disappointed too, but it wasn't one of those losses where I spent a lot of time feeling bummed out long term.  I realized quickly this season that to have big expectations on clay would just be setting myself up for discouragement, and as it turned out he had very mixed results when you look at the two month period.  He had both early round losses, yet also won a title and got to a final, so I knew it could go either way in Roland Garros.  Monfils was the match I was particularly concerned about and I wasn't really thinking much farther than that.  When he got through that with a bit of difficulty but successfully I certainly thought he had a good chance, but his good buddy Stan has the ability to play some amazing tennis and that is certainly what he did.  And frankly, Roger just didn't seem to have it that day.

While we know that Roger has had some good success on clay throughout his career, reaching the final of RG multiple times and of course his historic 2009 completion of the career grand slam, not to mention quite a few other clay titles, we still also know that clay isn't his best surface.  Add to that the fact that the points are grueling and his body is getting older, I really felt that although winning the title would be amazing, most likely it was a long shot.  I did think he might get to the semifinals or even the final, but overall he at least did better than last year.



Of course I wish he had played amazing against Wawrinka and gotten to at least the semifinal if not further.  But am I losing any sleep or feeling depressed all day about it?  Not by any means.  In my mind he is still playing great tennis at 33, is still #2 in the world and is doing himself and his fans proud.  I will say, though, that my hopes and dreams for the grass season are much different.  He has stated strongly that his goal is to win Wimbledon, so anything less for him or his fans is going to be a great disappointment.  I know I will have to steel myself for that eventuality, but until then I'm going to dream of him kissing the trophy once again.

And even though this may not seem like it relates, for those who are still feeling sad about this loss, I just watched the Brisbane final from this year where Roger won his 1,000th match.  What an amazing feat.  Take the time to watch this award ceremony and it will make you feel much better, I guarantee:

 

And as I close, I have to share this sweet picture of Myla and Charlene that was taken at one of matches - so cute.