Tennis is a cruel sport. Every tournament dozens of players show up and all but two - a man and a woman - go home losers. Then they all head off to the next tournament where - unless they're part of the elite (lately, Djokovic, Murray, S. Williams) - they become losers all over again. Even those who once upon a time were winners.
Roger Federer, the man with the most Grand Slam titles in history, has of late been in this group. Young fans who never saw him in his prime - 10, 12 years ago - have known him. fundamentally, as a loser, or - more charitably - an also-ran. He's usually been there toward the end, still in the mix, but he's had to settle for, at best, second place. Possibly the greatest player the game has ever known has, over the last few years, left most of the tournaments he's played in with his head down. The winningest player in the sport - because of his deep (and richly requited) love for the sport, and his seemingly outdated confidence in himself - became the guy who sooner or later loses.
So his victory at the Australian Open was more than just the addition of one more Grand Slam trophy to his collection; it was the transformation of a legendary athlete from loser to winner. It was the stunning spectacle of a 35-year-old man regaining the greatness of his youth.
