इतिहासात त्याच्या सारखे फारच कमी.. खरं म्हणजे त्याच्या सारखं कोणीच नाही..
त्याच्याकडे पाहिलं की अशक्य असं काहीच नाही असं वाटायचं..
स्वप्न पहायला त्यानीच शिकवलं.. आपल्याला जे मिळवायचं आहे, ते कसं हे त्यानीच दाखवलं..
कष्ट करताना वेदनेच्या ऐवजी काय मजा असते.. त्याच्या जोडीला येणारा अढळ आत्मविश्वास..
एखादं अवघड ध्येय गाठल्यावर देखिल कसं नम्र रहायचं..
स्वत:वर पण एवढा विश्वास नाही, इतका विश्वास त्याच्यावर माझा..
कधीच न हरणारा तो.. गेल्या जून मधे रोलॅन्ड गॅरॉस वर सलग तिसऱ्या वर्षी त्याच नडाल कडुन हरला.. नुसता हरला नाही, तर ६-० असा बेगल पचवावा लागला.. आणि ही नामुष्की कमी, तर लगेच जुलै मधे नडालनी त्याच्या कडुन त्याचं सगळ्यात लाडकं विम्बल्डन हिस्कावुन घेतलेलं... ७ तास टिव्ही समोर बसलेलो.. कोर्टवर पाऊस-ऊन, उजेड-अंधार यांचा लपंडाव.. क्षणोक्षणी छातीची होणारी धडधड.. नुसतं बघणाऱ्याला एवढं टेन्शन.. तर त्याचं काय झालं असेल..
स्वत:च्या अपेक्षा.. स्वत:ची स्वप्नं... स्वत:च मनानी ठरवलेलं एक असाध्य पण स्वत:ला चॅलेंज करणारं लक्ष्य..
सगळंच किती हवंहवंसं असतं ना आपल्याला... किती धडपड करतो ना आपण त्या करता..
पडतील तेवढ्या कष्टाची तयारी असते..
जिद्द आणि आत्मविश्वासाची परीक्षा...
आणि ते साध्य नाही झालं.. की वाईट वाटणं साहजिकच..
शेवटी तो देखिल मनुष्यच आहे..
पण फरक आहे.. तुमच्या किंवा माझ्या सारखा नक्कीच नाही..
म्हणुनच अश्रू लपवु शकला नाही मेलबर्नला..
मी पण रडलेलो त्या दिवशी.. मनापासुन.. अगदी अव्याहत..
त्याच्याबरोबर रडलेलो.. एकटा नव्हता तो.. शेवटी वेगळाच ना तो.. तुमच्या-माझ्यापेक्षा..
“I love this game. It means the world to me, so it hurts when you lose".
~Roger Federer, Melbourne, February 1, 2009
p.s. Bobilli Vijay Kumar has captured the emotions, the rivalry, the fall of Federer and the rise of Nadal, quite succintly in his article about the AO final match report in yesterday's TOI - The fall.. and rise of a hero
9 comments:
There is another lesson in there. chaDhata suraj dhire dhire Dhalata hai Dhal jaiga...
as usual special K10 touch ala ahe postla...mast ekdum :)
The question now is...Can he rise again or will this be the end of the road for him?
hmmm... it happens..and I guess happens with everybody. That is what the life is - which goes up, will do down one day!
Think of Nadal and be happy.He must have worked hard for it. It was 19th/ 20th final between them.
:(
:-) Yes it has Ketan touch to the post. But about Federer,many felt the same way about Sampras and so for Agasi. :-) Sorry to say but Life moves on...
-Vidya.
@Nilesh/Koham,
u said it! tho' as a Federer fan, i feel really sad to accept that he's going downnhill.. tho' i'd kind of anticipated it frm a pure "statistical sense" on my english blog in Nov 2007.. the year in which he first showed signs..
(http://monsieurk.blogspot.com/2007/11/whats-wrong-rf.html)
lets see, wot happens in the rest of this year.. i am hopeful for the best :)
@Anand,
i dunno what it means when u say 'the post has a special K10 touch' - but i feel good :D
u have raised the pertinent Q - can he rise again?? i dont want to dwell much on - is it the end of the road for him.
i dunno if u follow this blog - but chk out
http://tennisplanet.wordpress.com
he's answered ur Q in one of his recent posts..
this guy makes some really good posts.. his analysis is not technical mostly.. but more abt emotions, thoughts, etc.. and his style is whacky! ;-)
@Snehal,
yeah.. i completely agree.. and dont get me wrong.. after federer, it is definitely nadal that i support!! and i am happy for him!! it was their 19th career meeting (not the 19th final) and nadal now leads the head-to-head 13-6!! thts quite amazing (even tho' i think 9 out of those 13 victories have come on clay)..
nadal is just 22 and he's already won 6 majors!! at 22, federer didnt have so many, he probably had only 2 or 3!!
so, its no mean achievement by nadal - he's worked extremely hard and deserves all the success he has had! :)
@Bhagyashree,
i know :(
@Vidya,
yeah.. life does move on.. but its the moment that matters the most.. he could have equalled Sampras' record.. do u know that Sampras reached 18 finals and won 14 majors in 53 appearances.. while Federer has won 13 majors in 18 finals in only 39 appearances!!!
yeah!! just 39 as opposed to 53!!!!
i have been a big fan of Agassi.. s'how i was not so much of a Sampras fan.. Sampras and Agassi have been legends in their own way.. but Federer has been vying for the "G.O.A.T." (Greatest Of All Time) title.. and he's competing against Borg, Laver, Sampras (in tht order with Borg being the prime GOAT)... he's not playing just against Nadal.. he knows the history & tradition of the sport.. he sums it up in tht one quote that I put.. he loves tennis.. and it means the world to him..
at the moment, Nadal holds a vice like grip on his psyche.. he doesnt believe at all tht he can beat Nadal..
for someone who has dominated mens' tennis for the last 5-6 years.. reaching 18 major semi-finals consecutively (no one in the history of the sport has ever managed to do it - not even Sampras or Borg).. well..
i think i'll stop...
am getting too emotional now :D
its just that.. i have been following this guy for the last 5 years.. not just the majors.. but all the other tournaments as well..
and it hurts.. to see him lose like this..
lets hope.. he breaks Sampras' record of 14 majors.. amen! :)
या पोस्टवर आधी अभिप्राय दिला होता असं वाटलं पण आता दिसला नाही तेव्हा परत टाकते :)
असंच काहीसं माझंही झालं त्याला रडताना पाहिलं आणि....पण त्याच वेळी तो परत एकदा जग जिंकून घेईल याची खात्री पटली. ब-याचदा यश असं निसटून जातं तेव्हा स्वत:ला आवरणं कठीण होतं,अश्रू अनावर होतात पण ते वाहू द्यावेत पुन्हा एकदा लढण्याचं सामर्थ्य शब्दांनंतर अश्रूच देउ शकतात.
Probably its time someone tell Fed the story of the king in wilderness which we read in school days. King who tries to conquer back his kingdom again and again fails, retreats to a cave in forest, sees a spider not giving up and launching another attack with all the vigour to claim back his kingdom.
Well if the Fed story ends here then its not a true great story. I still belive "Picture abhi baki hai", whether it has a good or bad ending, we shall see :-)
@Sakhi,
>> ब-याचदा यश असं निसटून जातं तेव्हा स्वत:ला आवरणं कठीण होतं,अश्रू अनावर होतात पण ते वाहू द्यावेत पुन्हा एकदा लढण्याचं सामर्थ्य शब्दांनंतर अश्रूच देउ शकतात.
you said it! amen!
thanks for your comment.
@Dhananjay,
Yeah, RF can definitely get inspired by the story of King Bruce and the spider.
And quite indeed - "picture abhi baki hai"! :)
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