I was delighted to see Roger Federer claim the men’s French Open title on Sunday, much like the rest of the tennis world.
There’s no fun in having one man (or team) dominate a sport, and though there have been days in the past when I’ve been delighted to see the Swiss lose, I’ve been silently and then more openly backing him since Wimbledon of last summer.
His defeat to Rafael Nadal in the final on Centre Court, a place where he was been supreme on so many occasions, was heartbreaking, but, in truth, it never really looked like anything else. Nadal, it seems, had grasped the secret of grass.
Clutching at straws, fans hoped his win in the men’s doubles at the Olympics would set him up nicely for the US Open, but it was Andy Murray who ended Nadal’s interest and not Federer.
Move forward to Australia and all the signs pointed to another Federer win. He has always been strong in Melbourne, while Nadal had yet to prove unbeatable on the surface. Defeat in the final was painful for Federer as a result and for all to watch as one of the sport’s greatest ever players broke down live on television. Never an easy sight.
Many wondered about his future. Could he possibly carry on after yet another crushing defeat? Then came the news that Federer and his now wife were expecting their first child. Surely that was the final nail in the coffin as the stats show than players’ priorities tend to change once they become parents?
Cue the Madrid Masters. With Nadal in the draw no one gave Roger a hope but a gruelling semi-final clash with Novak Djokovic drained the Spaniard and saw the world number two triumph in straight sets 6-4 6-4 in his rival's backyard. Incredible.
Quite rightly, too much was not read into the result but no one can underestimate the boost that same win gave Federer. He came to Roland Garros having not only beaten Nadal on clay in Spain, but having beaten him on court for the first time in months. He also now knew that he still had the game to win titles on clay.
History will record that Robin Soderling was the man to end Nadal’s run in Paris, and while the rest of us will never know if Federer could have beaten him again, you cannot change a result once it’s recorded.
Oh how we fretted though. That match against Tommy Haas anyone? Federer might have been certain that his name would be on the trophy once Nadal was dispatched with, but he came within a handful of points of a fourth-round exit just 24 hours after his foe had been slain.
Juan Martin Del Potro also took him to five sets in his semi-final and I was surprised that Soderling did not take at least a set from him in the final given the big names he has beaten in the last week.
Even the Swede must have known that history and the world was against him. If Nadal could declare that he wanted Federer to succeed him as French Open champion, then who was anyone to disagree?
Of course, one of the best things about the French Open is that we never have to wait that long for the next Grand Slam...