What a perfect time to blog when you are stuck in a jury assembly room trying to tough out the last two hours of summoning. And the topic of today is Roger Federer's surprising upset in the quarterfinals of the French Open. Federer suffered his first pre-semifinal defeat in a grand slam at the hands of Robin Soderling, the same man he had beaten a year ago at this exact tournament.
This marks the first time in 6 years, 23 straight grand slam, where Federer had advanced to at least the semi-final. It was a remarkable record that I doubt anyone would come close to reaching in the next decade, so it deserves a moment. I don't know yet what this means, Federer has become less of a constant, which is good to not know what to expect all the time from him. But personally my interest in Federer has significantly dropped ever since he's won the French last year and surpassed Sampras' grand slam singles record. It's as if he has finished what he was meant to do on the tennis court and anything else is extra. But the dilemma is that we became so accustomed to him winning that anything less stellar is a significant displacement in our tennis-psyche. So although it doesn't matter as much to me, I'm still a bit distraught and I find myself rooting for him.
There are bound to be many analysis and speculations about this loss, I usually don't read too much into what commentators say, they are enteretaining at best. It is much more interesting to see how the athletes figure it out on the court and to see them defy expectations, which is something absoluting plausible, very similar to how a designer peels open the veil and present a new, refreshing, and surprising collections. It is always the element of surprise that is most intriguing.
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