Ours is a culture that interprets tears as a sign of weakness or mental disintegration, even more so if they flow from male ducts. The players are summarily written off as namby pambies or sore losers.
Roger Federer, one of the greatest, if not the greatest player to have picked up a tennis racquet, has been roundly castigated for his tears, both after the loss in the Australian Open and his victory at Roland Garros.
The Melbourne Park tears have been widely documented and explained, but on Saturday, in an interview to a British newspaper, Federer said it was the Swiss national anthem which had opened the floodgates.
We all remember the moments. The Swiss Psalm began after Federer was handed over the Coupe des Mousquetaires. He looked down into the base of the Cup. Tears slid down his cheeks.
“It’s hard, isn’t it? The anthem, few tennis players ever get to hear theirs. They play them in Monte Carlo and in Paris and in the Davis Cup before the Saturday doubles and at the Olympics. But we aren’t footballers who hear it perhaps 50 times a year. For us it has a very special meaning.”
Well, if anything, the tears should prove how he still manages to remain rooted, is still amazed by his victories after 14 Grand Slam titles.
For the first time, we are allowed a peek into the champions’ mind as he approached his momentous victory at Roland Garros.
“A few times during the tournament I had been thinking, ‘I wonder how it will feel.’ It’s quite a thought because you don’t want to get carried away, but you want to start dreaming a bit because dreaming, well, it’s inspirational. It can help by getting even more from you than you think it is possible to give.”
And when the dream became nearer to achieve, Federer wavered, just like any other.
“There were three defining moments that day (the French Open final). The first was when I walked out, the second when I started the third set, having won the first two, and then when I collected the balls to serve for the match. I was thinking, ‘What an unbelievable feeling it would be to win this tournament.’ I was so close. I hoped I wasn’t going to mess it up...”
Federer longs for the “normal” life, which he says, will perhaps be a little more achievable now.
“I guess that after the win in Paris this time I was able to be normal for a while, sitting at home with Mirka... I’m not able to do normal very often. Now I am back here. It’s not showing off in any way, but it’s nice to be back at Wimbledon.”
