Tennis pundits might warily debate it but majority of fans today will call Roger Federer the greatest all-time male player the sport has seen. There is a large section who root for the Swiss master’s great Spanish rival Rafael Nadal, but they are always easily outnumbered. The G.O.A.T (greatest of all time) debate has not been settled yet but by claiming his 18th Grand Slam title after beating Nadal in Australia, Federer has certainly cemented his claim as the peerless in sport’s history after drawing four majors clear of the 14 Nadal shares with Pete Sampras. Federer got rapturous applause from the packed stands when he insisted that he would have been happy to “accept a draw”. Time will tell if their reunion was a fleeting epilogue or the resumption of another chapter. There is sadness in the fact that the Roger and Rafa show cannot last forever, but profound pleasure in experiencing that titanic sporting spectacle again. Tennis, indeed sport, is incalculably richer for its return.
