Roger Federer - An Alpine Craftsman.

Roger has done it. He eclipsed Pete Sampras' 14 grand slams record in style. And one statement which was sort of a question till today became a grand statement - Roger Federer is indeed the greatest tennis player ever. I have been following tennis for quite sometime now and have watched almost all of Pete and Andre. I watched matches from the past - Bjorn Borg, McEnroe, Edberg and others. Two characteristics that set Federer apart are the ease in which he plays either from baseline or serve-and-volley and his ability to improvise at big points. His all-court expertise is what has transformed him into such a threat. And all these coupled with excellent agility and control.

It is difficult to compare players across different eras but I think it is definitely alright to assess their games in relative context. And it would be blasphemous not to mention Rafael Nadal when you speak of Federer. Nadal made Federer clamber in his quest for tennis immortality. Twice Nadal stopped Federer from reaching the golden slam (four grand slams in a year). And stopped is an understatement. Nadal was ruthless against Federer at Roland Garros in 2007, 08 against a motivated Federer. If Federer has retained his World Number One after today's one, a lot has to be attributed to Nadal's injury too. Nothing to undermine Federer's greatness. Again, being fully fit and agile is part of being a tennis pro and hence Federer has to be congratulated. Kudos to him.

It is nice to see Federer to see at the top of the pack. But I'd rather see Federer compete and work to win rather than have walk-overs. I'd rather see him battle out with Nadal or others from the crowd than see him decimate them. And that is why we need Nadal back. My gut says Nadal will come back stronger than before. He plays tennis of the highest intensity and quality and is more a slogger as opposed to Federer who is an architect. Nevertheless, a slogger versus an architect is more enthralling to watch than an architect versus an architect or a slogger versus a slogger. My thoughts go out to Andy Roddick who has played the best match in his career. 14-16 in the final set is too close. Andy was just points away from a well deserved Wimbeldon crown. He was awesome and never gave up. The fact that he dropped his serve only in the last set indicates fatigue.

Anyways, today is Federer's day. Other have to wait.