Centered on Centre Court
Observer July 12th, 2007
… this last weekend what a feast to watch Roger Federer take the Wimbledon trophy for a fifth time in a row, matching Bjorn Borg’s record in the seventies. The way of Federer in leading himself is worthy of study, not least for his unfazed attitude to celebrity, his understated unassuming Swiss way, and coolness of character, but his emotion as well. The unrelenting pressure of the occasion, of history, of all the other titans watching from the royal box, and a champion opponent who took it all the way to five sets including a tiebreak at the third, can but have been vice-like. To concede in the after story that at 5-2 in the final set he ‘nearly cried’, I guess from relief, rather than at that point a fear of losing, only accretes his humanity. Tennis is a classy game with fantastic grace and Federer’s is class act of leadership, also now proven, under real fire.
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