Model Champions, Eh!

I first saw John McEnroe play in the Match of the Century―Wimbledon 1980. It was that long ago. Those days we had a Dyanora (anybody?) B/W television set―that is not the point. I was hooked on to the game. More than that, John McEnroe became a personal favorite. He could do no wrong―his on-court misdemeanors did not matter to me―his presence on the court was all that mattered. Those days, Doordarshan showed only the Wimbledon final―so one looked forward to the annual McEnroe darshan.

Few years later, our school had invited some visiting American schoolteachers as part of some exchange program. During our tête-à-tête with the teachers, somebody asked, “Do kids in the U.S. look upto McEnroe as some of us here in India?” The teacher said, “McEnroe was a bad example. He was considered as someone who was rude and uncivil.” THUD! I was brought to Ground Zero. Yeh sunne ke pehle mere kaan kyun fat nahin gaye! Probably what the teacher said made sense. Probably what helped was that a month back, he had lost to the big-serving Kevin Curren 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in a Wimbledon Q/F match. I would not know―I only knew that the Big Mac had fallen in my esteem.



The other day, I was watching Federer’s comments after his straight sets loss to Djokovic—his first straight sets defeat in 4 years! A record to be proud of and a thrashing enough to rattle even the best! ''I have created a monster, so I know I need to always win every tournament. It is not easy coming out every week trying to win.'' I switched off the set in utter disbelief. Disbelief because I was wondering! Isn’t Federer human? What’s wrong with him? Can’t he come up with some excuses? No, that’s Federer. He is blessed with equanimity of robotic proportions! For someone blessed with such incredible talent, he is a humble man, not fazed by victories, forget defeats! He probably knows that he has a limited shelf life at the top and makes best use of his incredible talent. Probably that is why I want him to win every time he steps onto the court. The more I see him play, the more my ideals on fair play, grace, humility, and everything nice are reinforced.

But I know that bubble will burst someday………..Somebody will step on to the court and do a Hewitt-like ‘Come-On’ when an opponent hits long or wide. I will probably switch off the television. This time it will be out of DISGUST!!