You see, I have always been a tennis fan way back Boris Becker and Ivan Lendl's time. The Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open are events I look forward to every year. Watching Pete Sampras and Steffi Graf defend their titles on TV has kept me awake till the wee hours of the morning in the past. However, in the last 4 years, having been in Japan where Grand Slam tournaments are mostly shown on cable TV, I have lost tracked of the who's who in the world of tennis. In the ladies' singles, I was aware that the Williams sisters were making names for themselves together with Davenport, Clijsters and Henin-Hardenne from internet readings; well, that was before the Russians took over. But in men's singles, not one name really stood out (or maybe I just wasn't a big follower of men's tennis after Sampras made an exit). There was Agassi but that was years back. Then, I heard the name Roddick because he was once linked to Mandy Moore; and Hewitt because he was the boyfriend of Clijsters (who I really like). But Federer who?
I can almost imagine tennis fanatics scream, "What?!? You don't know who Roger Federer is??". Well, I now know he's the number 1 player for the past 2 years and is being touted as the greatest player of all time. And after watching him play yesterday, I now know how ignorant of me to think that Roddick has a chance of reaching the fifth set in a match against the "complete player" Federer. And that ignorance just cost me a pint of double dutch ice cream.
"He's the most gifted player that I've ever seen in my life. I've seen a lot of people play. I've seen the (Rod) Lavers, I played against some of the great players -the Samprases, Beckers, Connors', Borgs, you name it. This guy could be the greatest of all time. That, to me, says it all." - John McEnroe, winner of 7 Grand Slams.
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