The American writer David Foster Wallace wrote a memorable article on Roger Federer in The New York Times in 2006.
He titled it “A Religious Experience” and today, on the day of the announcement of the Swiss maestro's retirement, that article stands as a pinnacle of sports journalism.
"Beauty is not the goal of competitive sport, but the highest level of sport is the perfect setting for the expression of human beauty," wrote Foster Wallace, who referred his idea to a type of kinetic beauty, represented like no other. by Federer.
That article was published at the height of Federer's career, if that is possible in a career that lasted 15 more years on the courts and added 12 more Grand Slam titles to his record.
Federer had just defeated Nadal in the Wimbledon final, the first to be accessed by the Spanish player, who had defeated the Swiss champion at Roland Garros.
It was not difficult to guess the rivalry that was coming, one of the most radiant that the sport has seen, or one of the most complex, because the irruption of Novak Djokovic meant an amazing three-way competition.
Federer is retiring at the age of 41, but fans have been anticipating his retirement for months.
Age and injuries had finally taken their toll on a player who for 20 years seemed immune to the erosion of time, perhaps because his style highlighted an aerial condition that opposed Rafa's more grounded, more physical faculties. Nadal or Novak Djokovic.
In many respects, Federer has been a marvelous deceiver, an esthete armed with all the resources of punchers on the rugged professional field of tennis.
Federer flew like a butterfly and stung like a bee.
No other athlete is better defined by the famous phrase of Muhammad Ali.
In his ethereal tennis he kept an arsenal of resources, of shots that fascinated by their delicate beauty and the fearsome impact they produced around him, enshrined in an impressive track record: 20 titles in the 31 Grand Slam finals he played, 103 titles in total , 1,251 victories in matches on the professional circuit, 369 of them achieved in the four major tournaments...
Federer's numbers are overwhelming, and yet, in memory, they will function as a statistical file that will not even remotely explain his influence on the sport, since his teaching far exceeds the confines of tennis.
His transmission capacity overflowed all limits and reached the furthest from tennis.
For years, Federer has summoned the whole world to savor an incomparable style.
With all certainty, tennis players, coaches and experts in this game will be able to classify the innumerable qualities of Federer and some of his slight deficiencies, the shots that his opponents have been able to take advantage of, the small weaknesses that only Nadal and Djokovic were able to detect. , but that will be for the picky eaters.
People will remember him as an impeccable champion, his excellence accentuated by the pleasure he has produced.
When the mantra of winning is the only thing that matters, it pays to turn to Federer.
He won everything, he defeated everyone, and he brought us the immense happiness that Foster Wallace referred to: the captivating meaning of beauty.
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