It Really Sucks To See Legends Get Old

Djokovic def. Federer 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 6-3

Not to repeat the title of the blog, but it really does suck to see legends in the sports world get old. Roger Federer, finally at the age of 38, is old. His body just can't hang with him as he gets taken to 5 set matches constantly, only to face Novak Djokovic in the semifinals or finals in grand slams. Roger came into last night's match nowhere near 100% healthy. He pulled his groin pretty badly in the quarters against Tennys Sandgren, and needed a miracle just to win that match. Last night he needed an even bigger miracle and didn't get it. 

Entering last night he was a +500 underdog to Djokovic. Vegas knew he stood no chance. Any normal Djokovic-Federer clash is usually in the -200/+150 range. Federer gave himself only a 3% chance of winning with how he felt physically. He chose to skip practice on the off day in between matches to try and save himself as much as possible. Roger rested as long as humanly possible before the Djokovic match. It wasn't enough. 

Despite giving himself a 3% chance in the match, Fed came out firing to Novak's surprise. He immediately broke the Serbian and went up 4-1 in the first set. You have to imagine Novak thought this was going to be a walk in the park and was big time caught off guard by the Swiss Maestro's fire. Federer had 3 break points to go up 5-1, but failed to capitalize. The match ended there. Djokovic broke back and dominated the opening set tiebreak to take control of the match. Roger never saw a break point chance after that, losing in straight sets. 

This loss wasn't like Wimbledon and I'm nowhere as near devastated. I'm not sure Fed will ever get over that match. I didn't expect him to win this one, and if you asked me before the match I would have predicted a straight sets defeat. He just wasn't there physically to compete, but credit to him for even showing up to the match. A ton of players would have withdrew, but Federer plays for the fans and knows they pay good money to seem him play. He didn't play for himself, he played for them. That's how awesome he is. He's the classiest motherfucker in the world. 

Still, the greatest stat fact/accomplishment/stat from him is he's never retired mid-match. Dude has played over 1,500 tennis matches in his life and he's never quit once. Tennis is so grueling and requires your whole body to be physically fit and healthy to compete. The fact that he's still playing at 38 like this and still is finishing every match is just lunacy. It defies every bit of logic there is. 

So where does he go from here? Who knows? He's got his big exhibition match with Rafa in Cape Town, South Africa in a little over a week. That's a big event for both guys who will expect over 50,000 fans in attendance. Rafa and Fed will play each other and then Fed will team up with Bill Gates against Nadal and Trevor Noah for a doubles match. This is all to benefit the Roger Federer Foundation which raises millions of dollars to benefit children all over. Hopefully he rests up and is healthy enough to give the fans a treat. That's going to be awesome.