2020 Australian Open Semifinals...Roger Federer vs. Novak DjokovicMy best protege Gustaf and I were having lunch in a Swedish mall yesterday. He has secured the right to occupy a store space and he is doing an exhibition of his photographs that is called "The Iconic and The Ironic". A collection of photos of local buildings with images of New York famous buildings superimposed on the original to create new buildings. I am "life coaching" him now. Steering him into the field of architecture.
To be a fly on the wall. The conversation was largely formed on the basis of the most unfortunate helicopter accident the other day that took Kobe Bryant and eight others to a tragic ending. In many ways the aftermath doesn't make any more sense than the events leading up to it. The extreme wealth and the king's ransom that todays athletes are compensated. I recalled to Gustaf how in 1968 my father used to take me to the ballpark early to go and watch Al Kaline take pregame practice in order to watch him throw strikes to third base and home plate...from right field. Kaline turned down a contract worth 100,000 dollars in one of those years because he didn't want to show up his manager or his teammates. Such were the way things were. Average school teachers were making 10,000 a year. So were cops. So ten times the salary of the average Joe for the local superstar. The local superstar a bonafide roll model. Many times squeaky clean. Or so we led to believe. Who knows what the reality is.
The conversation meandered and never stayed quite on track. The kid is teaching me too. It's a great thing when the coaching relationship evolves into a mutual collaboration. Don't you think so?
So inevitably he asked me if Roger Federer has a chance against Novak Djokovic today? This was after a little discussion about Mr. Nadal and how some athletes have been led to believe that they are somehow actually better than the rest of the human race. Which is not true. These are just men. Which was somewhat the point of the discussion of Kobe Bryant. I was just wondering if Kobe ever thought that he was "The King" of the world flying in his helicopter over the ants below on the I5 freeway. An illusion that all of the ants actually contributed to. I was thinking out loud.
But when it came to Federer's chances today I was more or less at a loss of words. You see...I want to believe that he can win. But the reality is somewhat different. So the only thing to do is to go to the oddsmakers. Because when you weigh in on the facts that tennis is a game of energy and balance I am confronted with the truth that apparently Federer has gone beyond his physical limits whereas Djokovic is licking his chops at the prospect of exacting his revenge on the man that stands between him and what he really wants. He wants to be "The King". It is a game that all of these guys who are paid the king's ransom for playing games begin to lose themselves in. The facade that they build themselves up to in their minds. They believe that they can defy gravity. "No one here gets out alive"...a quote by the late and great Jim Morrison was one of the last things I said to Gustaf yesterday.
But Roger Federer seems to have separated himself from the rest of these Spoiled King's in the sense that this wonderfully talented and gifted athlete always seems to have his feet planted squarely on the ground. I gave a lot of credit to his wife as a matter of fact. I also told Gustaf that behind every great man is a good woman. It was a very interesting conversation. His exhibit exceeded my expectations. I think he will make a great architect some day. I had him read "The Fountainhead" too.
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