ShareThisIt always seemed appropriate that Roger Federer came from Switzerland, home of the precision timepiece. His mind seemed to have been crafted in a secret laboratory, a onetime project with all evidence destroyed.
At the 2007 Wimbledon, explaining why he didn't need a coach, he casually made a statement few could comprehend: "I don't need to sit down and talk about an opponent for an hour. Takes me basically 15 seconds. I know everything I need to know."
It all seemed frighteningly plausible as Federer mixed that fast track processing with instinctive genius on the court. He always seemed to know exactly what was coming, and how to respond. All of which made it stunning, with a crushing dose of melancholy, to see him in tears at the microphone after Sunday's 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-2 loss to Rafael Nadal in the final of the Australian Open.
"God, this is killing me," said Federer, who then began sobbing, and he could not stop. True enough, he had been physically outplayed by Nadal, whose elements of desire and endurance border on the supernatural. But now, Federer's mind was blank. He seemed to sense that his reign is over, that a 14th major title (Pete Sampras' record) seems somehow unattainable, that Nadal (at 22) is five years younger and improving his game in every respect, that Sunday's fifth set was a lamentable mismatch, that things will get only worse at the next Grand Slam stop, the clay courts of Paris.
Nadal generally dismantles his opponents on brute force, but the young Spaniard has taken apart Federer's Swiss watch, bending it into grotesque, unusable pieces. Name the surface -- clay, grass, hardcourts -- Nadal's resume is complete. The question now becomes whether Federer can summon the proper answers on his own, or whether he finally needs some outside help. (Federer has had coaches for brief periods in the past, most recently Tony Roche, but only on a cursory level.)
"Let's be honest, the guy (Nadal) is in his head," broadcaster Patrick McEnroe said after Sunday's match. "Roger basically folded in that fifth set, couldn't handle the pressure. It's going to be difficult for him to come back from this, and he definitely needs a coach. He's never had to adjust to something, because he's been so talented he could go out there and figure it out. All of a sudden, there's a guy he can't do that against."
To top it off, that man is a gracious, mild-mannered fellow who approached a crestfallen Federer, gave him a hug, leaned his head against Roger's, then told the crowd that Federer's 14th title is just a matter of time. Not only is it difficult to beat Nadal, it's downright impossible to hate him.
Remember that Nadal, two nights before, had played a 5-hour, 14-minute match against Fernando Verdasco that became the longest match in tournament history. "I wouldn't have bet a dime on Rafa to beat Federer in five sets after what he'd been through," Martina Navratilova said. "For him to keep that up is the most amazing physical display I've ever seen."
Let history treasure Federer's greatness over the span of those 13 titles. Sports Illustrated's esteemed S.L. Price, not given to exaggeration, declared after the '07 U.S. Open that nobody in the world does anything as well as Federer plays tennis. Now the master finds himself 6-13 lifetime against Nadal and 2-5 in Grand Slam finals.
One thing for certain: For all the pre-tournament talk about the depth of favorites in this or any Grand Slam event, the penthouse men's tennis remains a two-man show.
(E-mail Bruce Jenkins at bjenkins@sfchronicle.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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