Do you guys mind if I just ramble a bit? I meant to write a blog post after Roger's win in Basel, saying something along the lines of...... As every Federer fan is more than aware, Roger won his hometown Basel tournament for the 8th time, claiming his 7th title of the season and his 95th career title. When I was thinking about writing a blog post I thought, what more can I possibly write that hasn't already been said about this incredible man, his career, and his supremely amazing 2017 season? It's been an absolutely wild ride that I never would have dared to imagine.
I never ended up getting it written, though, and life is moving on. For example, we had the joyous and hilarious experience of seeing Roger play an exhibition match in Glasgow Scotland to help Andy Murray raise money for Unicef in which he ended up wearing a kilt provided from a woman in the crowd. He has a way of just making things so much fun! After much laughter, I still kept randomly smiling all day long just thinking about it.
The biggest focus in my mind right now, however, is that (wait for it).... I'M GOING TO LONDON!!! I have never been anywhere in Europe, so this is exciting in itself, but the big reason I'm going right now is because I want to take advantage of as many opportunities as I can to watch Roger play live. These are the kinds of moments that make special memories that last a lifetime and I don't want to someday regret that I missed out. So my tennis friend and I are taking a big trip for the sheer pleasure of watching some amazing tennis, while taking what time we can to explore London a bit (for example, we plan on taking a tour of Wimbledon, which I'm excited about - Roger, do you want to come show us around?). We have tickets to each round robin session and then head home on the day of the semis (in which I will be dying to know what's going on!). It would be so special if Roger could finish off this incredible year with another win at the ATP finals, but regardless, seeing him play at such an amazing tournament that he's had great success at will be so worth it. No one knows how much longer he will play, not even Roger himself, but let's enjoy each and every moment we have to experience this extremely talented and supremely special person.
Roger Federer will be saying goodbye to Paris and heading to London after a mostly successful and encouraging week. The last couple weeks have shown great hope that his struggles over the last months have truly been as a result of injury, not due to fading form or age catching up to him. His win against Del Potro in the quarter finals, especially in the first set, was reminiscent of the Maestro of old who has been AWOL for a lot of this year. And in his match against Djokovic in the semis we also saw what he is still capable of - the amazing variety, great movement around the court, killer forehands, supremely disguised drop shots.
Now that he is feeling so much better after the months of having to play in a fragile way to protect his injuries, his challenge against the top players is to be able to hang onto his top form for a full two sets. That was the problem against Djokovic. Though he was able to get up a quick break in the 2nd set, he quickly gave it up again, and as Novak was finally finding his form, Roger was suddenly losing some of his service rhythm and more errors were creeping in. Letting the level drop even for a moment against a top player can be hazardous, as he found out today. And that is what he will be facing all next week, as he will immediately play Djokovic again on Tuesday, followed by Del Potro and Gasquet (in no particular order). Not an easy task. A couple months ago this would have been a recipe for disaster, but as he is gaining confidence and finding his way again, he most certainly has a shot.
I didn't feel particularly disappointed by his loss in Paris. Sure, being that he would have been playing Ferrer in the final - who, by the way, was very impressive in his straight sets win over Nadal - it would have been great to have a chance for a Masters 1000 title this year. But knowing what he faces next week, and also sounding like he may have picked up a bit of a cold, I think it's important for him to have the extra day off after two physical three set matches in a row. It would have been particularly difficult to only have one day off and then have to play at least three top 10 matches. So we will take the positives we have seen and look forward to hopefully a great week of tennis in London with the best players in the world.
