A Federer moment in time

In the end, there were tears. For most of the match, as he walked to the court one final time, in the build-up to it and back to the day when he announced his retirement, the tears had been kept at bay. But on Friday night, the dam finally burst. It wasn’t just Roger Federer who was in tears. It was Rafael Nadal too. It was every person at the O2 arena in London. It was every fan (including a certain Kim Clijsters, who tweeted: “Damn you Roger … will be walking around with swollen eyes for the whole weekend”).

But for once, the tears didn’t have a tinge of sadness. Rather, they all seemed to point, emphatically, to a career that gave us all so much joy. In many ways, it was a celebration; a time to roll back time and remember the moments that helped us fall in love with Federer and his brand of tennis.

Over the course of a storied career, Federer has given us so many moments that somehow just stayed in our memories, and as he played his last match, it was impossible to stop ourselves from going back to them; reliving them; soaking in the joy again.

The night started with standing ovation as Federer and Nadal walked on to the court. For this last chapter, they were on the same side of the net.

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The forehand was still evoking oohs and aahs. Good enough to have Marin Cilic joke, “Playing great @LaverCup @rogerfederer. You may want to reconsider.” Most of us watching could only marvel at how he still managed to make the stroke look effortless. The fluid motion, the timing, and the vision. All on display. One final time.

The movement was impaired — Federer had not played for 14 months and it showed — but clearly he still had the touch; the touch that for so many years has remained an object of desire and perhaps even jealousy. He would somehow find a way to be in the right position or make the right instinctive call. Experience, some might call it. Federer fans, though, could simply call it genius.

The service action, though, was still smooth. He didn’t look rusty. He wasn’t hammering them down but then he never did. He always had the right mix of accuracy, pace, and deception. Still did.

That, of course, didn’t mean there weren’t any moments in this match. Prime among them was when he hit the ball between the net and the post and somehow got it to go back on court. The players couldn’t believe it. The chair umpire couldn’t either. And it took a few replays to ascertain what had happened. It led the commentators to say that Federer was still doing things that other players couldn’t. The best comment on the moment came from the Swiss ace himself when during the changeover he said: "My eye is still good”.

In his seminal essay, Roger Federer as Religious Experience, David Foster Wallace called them “Federer moments”, times “when the jaw drops and eyes protrude and sounds are made that bring spouses in from other rooms to see if you’re OK”.

The moments — which meant so many different things to so many different people — all coming together to add to the emotional theme of the night. It wasn’t a night to be a writer or a commentator or a photographer or a critic; rather it was a night to just soak it in and be a fan.

Another moment that will perhaps stay with us forever — just like him breaking down after the 2009 Australian Open final — Federer and Nadal, sitting on the bench at the end of the match (which they lost, but who cares), holding hands, both crying their hearts out as they watched a video play out on the screen. This wasn’t just sport. This was a life lesson. The greatest of rivals can be the best of friends.

“When Roger leaves the tour, an important part of my life is leaving too because of all the moments that he has been next or in front me in important moments of my life,” Nadal said. “So, I have been emotional to see the family, see all the people. Difficult to describe, but amazing moment.”

And that brought the curtain down on a night that few will forget. This meant so much to them. And they meant so much to us.

“I was able to remind myself always on the court again how wonderful this is,” said Federer. “This is not the end-end – life goes on. I’m healthy, I’m happy, everything’s great, and this is just a moment in time.”

A very special moment in time; a Federer moment in time.

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