The Aftermath

I am not eating my words. I am devouring a McChicken with Fries instead; and thinking which one of those overused clichés to use. I could say - Roddick was blown off court. OR Roddick did not show up. OR Roddick did not know what hit him. I could go on and on. But none of that would convey the reality of yesterday's "marquee" match-up. Like I predicted, it was Federer in 3. However, to be honest, I did not foresee a blowout. It was humiliating for Roddick; more so after all the talking he did throughout the fortnight. Andy, actually, is a very fair guy on court - at least most of the times. He gives a lot of respect to his opponents and usually has no excuses for defeat (something for Nadal to learn). And mind you, he was not indulging in any trash talk. He has shown a lot of respect for Federer in his interviews and even manages to be humorous despite all the frustrations he has accumulated during their 13-1 head-to-head. However, by being vocal about his chances and overstating the "narrowing gap", he was always putting a lot of pressure on himself. You can at least expect Jimmy Connors to know better after all these years. All I can say is that Roger Federer sure was listening! Good thing for Andy is that this match must have enriched his "lessons learnt" list. And he can only get better from here. Most importantly though, he should not get demoralized with this defeat and instead stick to his statement that he will "take it like a man as much as possible". Just like his last few matches with Federer did not give any pointers (far from it, actually) to what happened today, this match also does not mean that he is going to get a rough beating every time. With age and time on his side, Andy should go back to the practice courts like a man on a mission. And we can keep hoping that someday he will fulfill the promise of a rivalry.