By Jilawatan

As the 2009 Wimbledon decants into the pages of history, memories of the battle for the title between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick still linger.

It was heroic Colosseum stuff with exchange of a barrage of service blows (76 aces) till Roddick’s stamina gave him the thumbs down. The four hour 18 minute encounter took the 15000 spectators in the Centre Court and the 500 million global television audience to the edge of their seats.

With a total prize money of £12.5 million (about Rs 100 crore!) in their pockets the players now work their way from Europe to the US.

Federer and Roddick after licking their wounds have recovered and are now preparing for the US Open, the next and the last Grand Slam of 2009.

Rafael Nadal after a two-month lay-off since the French Open has reportedly got over the tendonitis in his knees and is flexing his muscles and sharpening his game.

Novak Djokovic, with victories against Federer in recent matches, and Andy Murray, with an impressive 6-2 head-to-head record against Federer would be adjusting their sights to bring down the high-flying Swiss, now considered ‘The Greatest Ever’.

One doubts if Nadal can come back to top form in such short time, but Djokovic, winner of the 2008 Australian Open and Murray, semi-finalist at the French and finalist at the US Open now know a thing or two about going the distance in Grand Slams and could bring Federer down.

Time will tell if the cracks in Federer’s confidence, when he suffered a string of defeats, are subcutaneous or whether they run much deeper. The US Open will be Federer’s greatest test. The title of the ‘greatest ever’ is a heavy burden to carry.

It was fate’s riffle shuffle of the cards at the French Open which cleared Federer’s path to glory.

Nadal, his nemesis, who had beaten Federer 13 times out of 20 with five consecutive victories, fell with ‘dicky’ knees while other dangerous challengers, Djokovic and Murray, lost before getting a shot at him.

A surge of confidence after his victory at Roland Garros took Federer back in time and from trudging like a foot soldier with losses to Djokovic, Murray and Stanislas Wawrinka, he once again majestically strode about the court like an emperor.

At last Federer had conquered the slow testing fires of the red clay at Roland Garros where the great Sampras had failed. Agassi said at Wimbledon that: “There seemed to be a sort of destiny involved in Federer’s victory”.

Two narrow escapes, one against Tommy Haas in Paris and the other against Andy Roddick at Wimbledon, where one single point would have made all the difference, took Federer to his destiny.

Having said that, it would be churlish not to salute Federer’s indomitable spirit.

With 15 Grand Slam titles, and on all surfaces, Federer has nothing more to prove. Travelling in his private jet to the US with his wife and precious twin daughters Myla Rose and Charlene Riva will start a new chapter in his life. Such happiness could bring about a measure of abandon in his game and make his genius even more resplendent.

On the other side of the scale satiation may set in and he could put himself on autopilot and not fire the after burners to take him to greater heights. I am sure Federer still has yet another gear in him and could light up the tennis world like a supernova. Time alone will give the answers.

The novelty of the Indian girl with the nose ring is wearing off. Sania Mirza now has to raise her game to get back into the spotlight.

She played well before losing to the highly-rated Sorana Cirstea in the second round. Sania must find out how Elena Dementieva, suffering from a poor serve with a profusion of double faults, has over come her weakness.

A new service action learnt at the age of 27 has taken Dementieva to the top-three in the women’s game. It is certainly not too late for Sania to change her serve action. It demands a higher level of commitment and enlightened guidance.

Playing in testing Challengers is the best way to overcome weakness of consistency. Tough close matches are the steps to higher standard and ranking. I was delighted to see her grind through two Challenger tournaments and come through with one title and a final round loss in the other.

If she can stay injury free, she is sure to be a threat to any of the seeds at the US Open. On a lighter note, it was very amusing to read in the Daily Telegraph that “Sania Mirza can trace her ancestry back to Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great”. May she conquer like the Great Akbar and also imbibe his wisdom.

The feisty 16-year-old Portuguese qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito started the decibel war when in the third round of the French Open she produced a high decibel mixture of grunt, screech and shriek while hitting her shots, which forced her opponent to complain to the umpire.

She paid no heed to the umpire’s warnings and the booing from the crowd and said that she could not stop as it was part of her game.

Failing to find any musical expression to describe the noise she made the correspondent of an English daily said: “The sound is that made by ardent foxes”.

Martina Navratilova condemned it by saying: “It is cheating pure and simple”.

Sharapova’s decibel level is reported to be 101 as compared to 110 of a lion’s roar! One fervently hopes that players in the future will not emit a Tarzan like call during the changeover!