More entitled than Rome, the truly "city of eternity" is Constantinople. Its build-up came at the downfall of Rome, marking the start of the "Middle Ages". For more a thousand years, it is the biggest, crowdiest and the wealthiest city in the Western civilization. The walls of Constantinople could only be threatend by earthquakes.
If Roger Federer is a city, he would be Constantinople. A Leo, the Swiss Lion's first roar came after the official annoucement of Sampras "the Rome" :), with the fading Agassi and Kureten and the lackluster generation of Roddicks, Hewitts, Ferreros and Safins as background. He stormed though 2004 in an astonishing fashion that could only be matched by the erected monuments and the grand St Sofia cathedral in Constantinople.
The Byzantine emperors would fortify their capital with accumulated capital, extended frontiers and the Theodosius Wall (outskirt fortifications). In the case of Federer, something more impressive and admirable than the build-up of the empire was taking place analogously: his pursuit of perfection extremified--forehand, backhand, serve, and the basis of these all, the footwork. On court he waltzed, and then he blitzed. His unmatched God-given talent plus his never-stopping progress made onto his game transformed him into the untouchable, not only the king, but the God, except on clay. Thus his ambition extended. His forehand, and then his whole game changed, for Roland Garros, the only Grand Slam that evaded him.
The walls of Constantinople could only be threatend by earthquakes. Just as in the history where the earthquakes to Constantinople were only followed the speedy repairs and further fortifications, earthquakes like the Safin coup in AO 2005, Canas surprises in 2007(?), and later, Djokovic uprising in 2008, seemed only to strengthen him in retrospective. The closet analogy of Rafael Nadal on Roger "the Constantinople" will be "the Crusades": he produced severe damages, but later retreated. Ultimlatey the time, and his growing loss of direction with the Coupe des Mousquetaires (The Musketeers' Trophy) can beat him. And it takes some huge gun power from a Mehmed II, in this case, the 193cm Czech man, Tomas Berdych.
June 30, 2010 is the May 29, 1453 of tennis history. This day, on the most hallowed turf of this sport of string and bat, the colossal Swiss man, the king of grass, and undisputely the GOAT, fell, deterministically, to "Sultan" Tomas Berdych in four sets, ending his regime in Wimbledon, and with it, a "Middle Age" for tennis.
Yes, Roger's regime is a "Middle Age" of tennis. Both times are "Dark Ages" for dissidents, blissful, peaceful times for the pious. The All-Mighty (the Church/Federer) in the center and the trinity (trinity/the three Grand Slams: Oz, USO and Wimby Roger dominated) as its fortresses. He ruled the sport in such a suffocating manner that he amazing had records such as "beating the top 10 players for 26 consecutive times", "advancing to the Grand Slam semifinals for a consecutive 23 times". And he rules for so long that 99% of the post-1985 non-Americans don't even know who else has been the World Number One until August 2008.
All these can be declared "past" NOW. This Berdych win over Roger is the fall of Constantinople. When this great campaign started, Federer's serve was as reliable and steady as the Constantinople walls. He paid for his cracks in one game in the first set. But the inconsistency seemed over-comable. And few clues of a SHOCK. Berdych fired some brilliant gun powders, off both wings, and of course, with the serve. He put pressure on Roger's backhand consistently. And that he pulled himself out of the double-break deficit in the second set, thus not losing the momentum and gaining the "serve first" advantage proved to be crucial in this match.
The third set progressed into the unthinkable. The manner he missed and lost, his sluggish steps, and his futile "Come On"s, all the failed tries to really get into this match symbolized something unreversable. He never stepped up. He showed us what the subtle aging and slightly lower pace could lead to--the loss of magic power, the loss of seamless defense-offense transition, the completion of de-deification, on the ultimate altar!
For the fourth set, I begin to feel for all the Roger fans, like XHL. Both sides played great, and you would always imagine, if you watched LIVE, that Tomas would suddenly wake up, and falter, and choke, but no, it is a matured Berdych, and he is not in a dream. He has the nerves now, and he is recalling Athens 2004. I begin to like him, his shot-making. But still, Roger, with all his versatilities, had every chance to turn it back. But he couldn't make it. A brilliant last game ended with a signiature forehand incide-out winner for Berdych of the Czech Republic. Into the record books it goes: Berdych defeated Federer by 3 sets to 1, 4-6, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, and it is Berdych vs Djokovic in the seminfinal.te
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