For Federer and his fans, disappointment and doubt
When the Open Championship was held at Royal St. George’s in 1949 a golfer named Harry Bradshaw found his ball inside a broken beer bottle on the fifth fairway. He tried to play it. He could have had a free drop,
When the Open was held at St. George’s in 2011, a golfer named Tiger Woods couldn’t find his ball off the first fairway after the opening shot of the tournament. Woods only wished he could have had a free drop instead of a lost-ball penalty.
The Open starting Thursday returns to St. George’s where you can see France some 20 miles across the Channel but when in competition, you’re thrashing around in the rough you can’t see a way to make par.
And, no, Bradshaw didn’t win in ’49, It was the legendary Bobby Locke. Nor did Tiger win in ’11, It was the not-so-legendary Ben Curtis.
The last Open at the course named for the patron saint of England was in 2011 and won by Darren Clarke, whose celebration after years of trying included his obligatory cigars and some optional pints.
Clarke, a Northern Irishman, who’s as popular as the game he still plays on the Champions (seniors) Tour.
Phil Mickelson was second that ‘11 Open, and now 10 years later, in May, having taken the PGA at 50 to become the oldest man ever to win a major, he’s still a factor.
The favorites, however, are the usual suspects; Jon Rahm, who won the U, S. Open, at Torrey Pines in June; the feuding friends, Bruce Koepka, and Bryson DeChambeau; Rory McIlroy, despite his unsteady driving; and Justin Thomas.
But so often at the Open—this is the 149th--the story’s the course, scraped and molded from the linksland of the British Isles,
St. George’s is a place where off the fourth tee there’s a bunker big enough to hide the whole lot of the Queen’s fusiliers and where canines and human females used to be treated with contempt.
It’s nestled among dunes on which Caesar’s army set foot but Hitler’s army never was able.
Ian Fleming, a member, picked up many of his story ideas behind the bar. He carried a handicap of 007—well 7.
When the wind blows (when doesn’t it blow?) St. George’s might be the toughest course in the Open rotation. Unquestionably it is the southernmost.
In the 1981 Open (won by the Texan, Bill Rogers) Jack Nicklaus shot an 83 in the second round and still made the cut. In the ’85 Open there (won by Sandy Lyle) Peter Jacobsen tackled a streaker on the 18th green. In1993 Greg Norman played so well the final round he proclaimed, “I’m not one to brag, but I was in awe of myself.”
There are several courses squeezed in the area known for decades as Cinque Ports, not far from the White Cliffs of Dover, One, Prince’s, is alongside St. George’s, only a small stone wall separating the two.
The third round of the ’93 Open, the late Payne Stewart saw several sportswriters he knew, playing Prince’s, stopped next to the wall and asked, “Anybody see my ball, a Pink Lady?”
He wasn’t serious.
But Bernard Darwin, the London Times golf writer, in the 1920s and ‘30s, was serious when he wrote about St. George’s, “The sun shines on the waters of Pegwell Bay and lighting up the white cliffs in the distance; this is nearly my idea of heaven as it is to be attained on any earthly links.”
Others may have disagreed. Once, outside St. George’s there was a sign, “No dogs, no women.” Ladies now are able to play although only by themselves.
Wonder what James Bond would say?In the old cartoons, Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, the message scrolled on the screen. “The end,” it said, and so it was time to leave.
If only it could be that clear in sports.
If only Roger Federer and his fans wouldn’t have to endure the disappointment and doubt.
If only we wouldn’t be wondering whether one of the great careers in tennis was headed to a finish.
Which it certainly seemed to be Wednesday, when Federer was defeated — in truth, overwhelmed — 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-0, by Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, who except to tennis purists probably is as obscure as Federer is famous.
Or was obscure until his Wimbledon quarterfinal rout of Federer.
What a sad, jarring few days for two of the game’s stars. Venus Williams, age 41, couldn’t win a game in the final set she played. Federer, age 39 (a week away from 40), also couldn’t win a game the final set he played.
It’s not supposed to be that way. Or is it? The world, we were told poetically by T.S. Eliot, ends with a whimper. An appropriate description of Federer’s play the last game or the last set.
Chris Clarey wrote in the New York Times that Federer was “shanking forehands and misjudging volleys.” Roger Federer, eight-time Wimbledon singles champion, so graceful and mobile, shanking and misjudging?
This could not be. But it was.
Like Willie Mays in the season he was with the Mets, dropping flies and striking out, Federer was a victim of time as much as he was of the opposing players.
He’s not going to retire. Tennis is his life as well as his profession. “The goal is to play, of course,” he said.
But even he was uncertain about a return to Wimbledon in 2022. “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t really know. I’ve got to regroup.”
What he does know, what we all know, is that age is the ultimate winner in every sport.
Our games are for the young, as Federer was when at 19 he knocked off Pete Sampras at Wimbledon in 2001. As is Hurkacz at 24 when he knocked off Federer.
The days keep moving, the forehands keep flying. Don’t look over your shoulder. Everyone may be gaining on you.
Federer had a decent tournament, all things considered. Until the third game against Hurkacz.
Roger underwent a knee operation a year ago and weeks of rehabilitation. That he even was able to advance to the quarters this Wimbledon could be considered a victory.
Unfortunately, there was that third game, Hurkacz pitching the shutout as it were, only the third incurred by Federer in 429 Grand Slam matches.
“The last few games,” Federer admitted in his media conference, “obviously you can feel that you’re not coming back from it.
“I’m not used to that kind of situation, obviously, very much, especially not here.”
Yet assuming he returns to Wimbledon — and the guess is he will, if only to revise the last impression; who wants to remember Roger getting skunked? — he may have to get used to it.
The older you get, the younger — and stronger — are the people on the other side of the net.
Of course, young or old, how many tennis players were as brilliant or elegant as Federer, the 20 Wimbledon titles, the 103 ATP singles wins?
Although he is Swiss, Federer came to be idolized by the British fans, probably because of his classy style as well as his success at their tournament.
“I’m actually very happy I made it as far as I did here,” he said diplomatically, “and I actually was able to play at the level that I did after everything I went through.”
What he went through in that final game was awful. For him and his many fans.