Finally! It’s about 12 hours since I saw Novak “Nole” Djokovic fall down on his knees in ecstasy after destroying the swiss robot - a feat which was formerly touted impossible in a slam outside France.And the euphoria is still there! For the record, I do hate the “Fedexpress!”. Ever since he beat Sampras in Wimbledon in 2001..ending a an era in The Wimbledon championships! I still remember watching that match at home and the heart ache felt at the end. I remember going downstairs to find R perippa equally emotional and shattered. Granted Federer is a phenomenal player with unquestionable genius. He is also reasonably level headed and free of any airs! Yet however hard I try; despite the gloominess slam after slam seeing him run away with the trophy, despite the unequivocal praise and declarations of genius, I couldn’t get myself to root for him! I would have been a much happier tennis fan if I had joined the Federer bandwagon. Seriously.
I flitted between several other possible replacements for the Sampras shaped hole in my heart - but not with too much success; for me or them! Safin was the first. I did watch him beat Sampras in a fantastic display of tennis in the 2000 US Open and also watched him on Zee English after that on the David Letterman show (I was supposed to be studying late in the night!). Somehow the fact that it was only Flushing Meadows and that Safin was a hunk 
helped. However he is probably the biggest waste of space on the Tennis Draw! Such talent wasted due to no motivation and a complete lack of sporting temperament. Slam after slam he remains an also ran crashing out in unnecessary 5 setters. He did come close to redemption once - 2005 Aussie but that was a flash in the pan!
I really like Andy Roddick. Great court presence, a fantastic serve, superb attitude on and off the court, a great sense of humour and great looks too! However hard he tries though, he is always found lacking playing against Roger. His performance in the 2007 US open semis was mind blowing and playing anybody else, he would have trampled them on course to the final. But even that wasn’t enough to beat Federer. In any other era, in the absence of a phenomenon like the Swiss, he would have been a multi grand slam champion. Yet he remains among the runner -ups!
The search for the 21st century tennis hero continued.Somehow Nadal doesnt appeal to me. The grunts and the sliding and all that top-spin puts me off. The 2007 Montreal masters came as a brilliant ray of hope to me. I had seen Djokovic in the French. However I don’t enjoy the play at Roland Garros enough for him to leave an impression. But it was a completely different story in Canada. The scrawny Serb impressed me with his wonderful playing. The glint in his eye and the confidence gave me more hope. By the time I watched him do his famous impersonations I was a complete convert! Inexperience and nerves were his undoing in last year’s US open. But in Melbourne this year, he has played like a champ! When he hopefully beats Tsonga tomorrow to lift the championship trophy, he will have a die-hard fan cheering for him! Thanks to him, today I was the one with the smug look, watching a Federer match with S. I say, Let’s go Novak, let’s go!
