There’s a fine line between arrogance and self-confidence. The truly great ones generally manage to walk the tight-rope without falling to the perils of over-estimating their own prowess. But sometimes, even they are blinded by their own brilliance. Roger Federer needs to do something quick before his incandescence hastens his own burn-out. He needs to go get a coach, pronto.
History has been witness to sportsmen making some really tall self-proclamations. None bigger than Mohammed Ali’s, “I am the greatest; I said that even before I knew I was”. Roger has been nowhere as pompous with his best being,” I’ve really proved that on all surfaces, everywhere in the world, I can win the title. It’s been incredible for me from beginning to end”. What was a bigger statement though was his decision to dispense with his coach, and decide not to hire another one.
This was a bold step – something unheard of in the modern era, where top players travel with an assortment of trainers, coaches and instructors. Roger then walked the talk by winning almost everything (the French Open excluded) in sight and dominating the ATP tour like no one before him had done. But lost amongst the hosannas have been the signs of fallibility. I had made one humble attempt to predict an end to the greatness and then another one. Not that too many people noticed.
In 2008, however, the people have really started noticing. Roger’s poor start to the year has brought Nadal and Djokovic within touching distance of his no 1 ranking. As expected, the questions of getting a coach have been raised. And promptly shot down by the Swiss maestro. I have been tempted to write the third and final part of my Roger Federer obituary, even though I should ideally wait to see if he can hold onto the Wimbledon crown. This, because Federer’s supreme confidence is slowly becoming his biggest undoing and threatening to immolate him.
I will wait however, for the simple reason that I as a sports fan love to see records being made and a dominant Roger Federer is on the verge of re-writing the entire book. But for that to happen, the great man needs to hire a coach right away. And if he needs convincing, he should go check with buddy Tiger Woods – his only rival as the most dominant sportsperson in the world. In fact, that debate is close to being settled in Tiger’s favour as Roger’s decline has coincided with Woods’ ascent to the closest thing in terms of sporting perfection. He has won 8 of his last nine tournaments and finished second in another, sparking talk of a grand slam ; something not done in the history of the golf. Also for the information of the uninformed, golf is far more tougher than tennis when it comes to winning tournaments regularly. You play only yourself and have no control over the performance of the others. Every golf-course is like a different surface in tennis parlance, making it very difficult for any player to master all the different playing conditions in various tournaments. (Quite unlike tennis where you only need to master grass, clay, indoor carpet and hard-court)
Fedex needs to learn from the guy on the right
Tiger is a classic case of never being satisfied and always looking for continuous improvement – a lesson Federer has forgotten in his arrogance. And most of Tigers’ unending pursuit for excellence has been a joint effort with his coaches. When Tiger first appeared on the tour, he was already hitting the ball the farthest – an advantage which resulted in a slew of titles and the world number one ranking. But he was still willing to take it to the next level. So, on the advice of swing coach Hank Haney, he decided to re-model his swing completely. This lead to a drastic drop in performance but Tiger persevered with his coach; trying to perfect the new swing. And when he managed to do it, he was an even better player. This is the equivalent of Goran Ivanisevic or Pete Sampras deciding that their serve wasn’t good enough and hence they needed a new service action. Tiger has been strongly challenged by some extremely talented guys like Phil Mickleson and Ernie Els but his ever-improving game has broken their resolve. Federer’s arrogance on the other hand has only fuelled the hunger of Nadal and Djokovic.
Roger Federer needs to accept that he is facing a crisis. His once imposing game is no longer good enough to keep the challengers at arm’s-length. He needs to raise his game by a few notches to extend his greatness. He also has to understand that he is capable of that. All human beings are capable of further improvement. Perfection is a theoretical concept. A coach can facilitate the improvement process. Getting a coach is not the sign of weakness but a reflection of wisdom. He can continue to walk the tight-rope between confidence and arrogance. Just needs to get himself a coach first.
