Blood,Sweat and Tears

Okay people,some of you may have seen it,some of you may have not.

HISTORY has been made.In tennis,I mean.Yes,Roger Federer overtook Pete Sampras for a record 15th Grand Slam title last night,here at 3.30am,beating Andy Roddick in 5 sets 5-7 7-6 7-6 3-6 16-14.

For the record,I was watching EVERY point of the match,and actually wanted A-Rod to win.Nevertheless,the great man himself and luck on his side broke A-Rod when he needed to,the final game.

I'll be honest.Roddick HAD NOT been broken the whole match,and it was really a whole lot of bad luck that cost him.What could anyone say about that?I mean,it's basically fate.He had set point at 6-2 in the 2nd set tiebreaker and that changed everything.Life sucks sometimes,but what I know is that there was a message at where the players entered the Centre Court(which I do NOT remember it clearly):"If you meet with triumph and disaster,be sure to treat those two imposters just the same."

Who couldn't possibly feel bad for Andy right there?I think it's not really fair to allow one man to parade around the court while the other sits in his chair,practically rueing how close he came to winning.Both men were the winners today.The score doesn't say it,but the people do.

Now,those who don't really like Federer,here's some records the broke and tied :D:15 Grand Slams (most ever),No.1 ranking(1st ever player in Open Era to reclaim that ranking),7th consecutive Wimbledon Grand Slam appearance and 60th title,equalling my idol,Andre Agassi.

It was kind of hard for me to swallow,even as a spectator.My eyes were welling up,but I was glad enough to observe this kind of special moment.For those who don't really want Fed to win,I'll probably cheer you up with some records not reached yet:D

1)Definitely not "Youngest ever"(Boris Becker at 15-17)
2)No "Oldest Ever" in Open Era (33 when Agassi won Aussie Open)
3)Doesn't have Olympic singles gold(Take note Rafa has it)
4)6 Wimbledons to Sampras's 7
5)Calendar Grand Slam(Rod Laver)

And yes,he's considered "The Greatest Ever" by many already.To me,well,he is the greatest ever,in his own era.I believe each era has it's own greatest ever,but who is the true great is up to anyone to decide.

Well that's practically it.Do you know what actually makes him one of the best?Hope.

Many people don't really understand the true ingredient of a tennis player.It's not necessary to be a child prodigy for anything to happen.People tend to misunderstand "hope".Parents tend to think that their child MUST win to achieve greatness.I WILL say that this is wrong,this is not true.Take for example,parents who tend to ignore their child's words and insists on their own.That is called expectations,not hope.It's heartbreaking enough for the child to be pushed around,and parents think he/she's not practicing because he/she doesn't show any interest,and tend to force their offspring to practice,thinking that it's the best for them to do so.

They don't know what caused the child to stop.In fact,they probably WON'T EVEN ADMIT they are the cause.They DON'T EVEN KNOW they are the cause,they just go on with the "been there,done that" mentality that is SOOOO IRRITATING.

It's just that fine line that separates success from failure.3 words:Expectations,wish and hope.Those 3 words,slightly different in meaning,yet makes a large difference in life.Questions that start with "Who","When" or "What" are expectations.The people who asked expect the answers,not hope for it.

Take for instance,test results.I HATE to write this down but it's ok if you skip it because I'm really not in a good mood right now.

I had my results back about 2 weeks ago and there was this simple comment from dad:"That's bad".I wouldn't really agree or disagree in this matter because my religion DID drop while the rest were either maintained or upped slightly.However,that was A COMMENT OF EXPECTATION.Why couldn't there be a sense of OPTIMISM??!!It's really not wise to put in pessimism into the comments when someone's already been pounded wih it and doesn't realise how bad it's become.To rub more salt to the wounds,he added:"Your school result's bad,your tennis isn't improving much.Instead it's becoming worse,I'm paying lots of money for this...If you don't get any better,I'll probably just slowly pull it out of your schedule..".It's easy enough to say,but there's SO MUCH things that adults tend to overlook.If it's worse,what's worse?What's better?

And what is the response?This is NOT RIGHT:"You don't have your fast serve and your kick serve and now you've got the slice serve.Your backhand's pretty bad."And what's in the comment?Expectations.The person expects the player to have it and be good at it.

Take a look at this comment:"Try to fix your serve up a little bit.Add more varieties,spin or more pace to it and you'll be fine.Also,try to work on your backhand a little bit more."What do you find in it?

I know I'm pretty much going too deep into this simple matter,but I'm feeling really down low at the moment.After going to sleep at 4am and waking up at 1.30pm in the afternoon,I felt like going out for a practice,feeling really good,believing in myself that I could be there.

Then mum asked
"When are you going out to practice?"

That put me off straightaway.There's no point in practice when there's no hope on me.....I think it's probably time to call it quits.You know,hanging up the racket.I'm pretty fragile,and I probably could break at any time....