Today we have an appreciation of Roger Federer from our reader Maria Duclaud, a Mexican living in Madrid who loves tennis

I have loved tennis all my life, ever since I was a little girl and my father used to take me to Davis Cup matches when Rafael Osuna, Tony Palafox and Raúl Ramìrez played for Mexico. My father and I never missed a Grand slam and we enjoyed tennis matches as much as soccer and Major League Baseball.

Tennis then was mostly amateur and not so physical. Gentlemen in white clothes with wooden rackets. Wit and intelligence was the thing..(so I thought) more like an elite. The popularity was kind of discreet, there were not so many tournaments and not that much money involved.

When John McEnroe started playing I fell for him immediately. I couldn’t stand Connors’ personality and I found his powerful and consistent game boring. Tennis started to be something different with Connors and evolved in many ways. The rivalry between McEnroe and Connors had begun and every match they played was so much fun.

I admired Borg but his consistency and imperturbability drove me mad. Unforgettable matches between Borg and McEnroe ..and then my beloved Agassi ….the way he learned to play the net, to believe in himself and win matches and tournaments, simply wonderful. Boris Becker, Nastase..so handsome, Wilander..so intelligent…. Santana, Orantes, Sampras !!!!!! such a gifted and humble player…

Then Roger Federer came along and everything changed… he started doing magic shots, with an elegance and with such grace that it seemed almost like a different sport, effortless and smooth, easy and brilliant… The people getting destroyed on the court at Roger’s hands are no amateurs but extremely fit, elite, world-class athletes, and he just plays with them like they are children when things get serious.

It is impossible to overlook the ridiculous degree of difficulty for many of the shots that he makes look easy. There is also a mental aspect to the challenge that he handles with ease, almost never letting the pressure of being #1 get to him or make him quiver. He has reinvented many shots in tennis and even when he loses he plays shots that surprise Roger himself and delight every one else. His capacity to concentrate and the deep understanding that it is not about his opponents but that it is all about him, shows pure wisdom.

I have heard about a New Energy that is accessible to us right now and a Quantum Leap that many humans are taking in these turbulent times. Since tennis is like a mirror of life and one of its greatest manifestations, since we can watch the play of consciousness all around and delight in its complexities, I started to think that Roger Federer is not just one more wonderful Tennis Player but a Master, a Guru that has come to teach us a new way to play the game and how to create a Masterpiece of every game we are involved in.

They say that when you are so integrated and in love with yourself, absolutely in love with yourself, your energy changes and a physics that takes place creates new potentials and new answers. Such a whole, integrated, divine human, so outstanding, can have an amazing effect on other players. He becomes a huge mirror for all of them and this gives everyone motivation and potential to change things.

Roger seems to be a totally integrated, self-healing, self-balancing, self-creating being. He is immersed in this New Energy, an energy that has a graceful flow to it, energy that makes things happen very, very quickly and very easily.
If it ain’t easy it’s not right (when he forgets how easy it is then he loses inexplicably… ) He is complete, he is whole (no need of a coach), wisdom is within him and he is a true Standard being for all, not just for tennis players.

Roger has been showing us a new way to play, a new way of doing things: effortlessly, with joy, with beauty, with simplicity, no need to struggle any more (he doesn’t even sweat), and radiating a special light that make all energies serve him, enhance him and help him create a Masterpiece every time he plays and lets himself go with the flow.

I don’t know if Roger is conscious of this, probably not. Nevertheless, he has a special flexibility and a way of not getting in the way, a way of surrendering to the moment with complete Presence, that makes the impossible possible. He achieves the unthinkable and creates a precedent for future players and for the life of all. I sure think he has helped tennis change and surprisingly enough, has helped manifest a true Quantum Leap in the game. “May those who have Eyes, See; and those who have Ears, Hear”

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