The rebirth of the biggest star tennis has ever had

It is in the nature of sports to make rivalries in a good sense, and very rarely there has been unanimity about who will be the best in a certain modality. In a world where football is the predominant sport, discussions between Messi and Ronaldo make the front pages in the sports sections of newspapers and generate posts and reactions in social media and blogs like no other sports. Football is a field for discussion about who is the best, or which team is the best. For example, Brazilians will say Brazil is the best of all time, and others will refute this.

Nevertheless, there are some sports (mainly individual sports) where identification of “the best” becomes easier. The sprinter, Usain Bolt, who is a great inspiration for the speedster world of " The Flash," is inevitably thought to be the greatest name in athletics, not only for his charisma but also for the three world records he holds. In swimming, Michael Phelps is unanimously considered the best athlete of all time because the 23 Olympic gold medals won during his career, which is an achievement that no other swimmer, or athlete, ever achieved.

The lows of Roger Federer?

In the last few days, Roger Federer has shown no greater example of unanimity than his tennis. On Sunday, Federer won his 8th Wimbledon title, and consequently his 19th Grand Slam, thus strengthening his position as a record holder of the most important tennis category.

As a tennis player myself, I have to admit that tennis has experienced, in the last decade, what we call the "Golden Age," with the appearance of the Big 4 - Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, and Murray who have been the leaders of the world ranking and together won 35 of the last 40 Grand Slams. Therefore, the supremacy of Roger Federer among the Big 4 makes him an even a more special case.

While many of the legendary athletes ended their careers at the top, Roger Federer has seen some lows since 2010. With a knee injury and his rivals dominating the game, Federer had to change his ways in order to give himself another shot at the top of the sport. Roger experienced his peak performances between the seasons of 2004 and 2009 when he achieved 15 Grand Slams titles and the record of weeks as the number one player in the world.

He was only 28 at the time. Since than, great performances from a younger Nadal, an upcoming Djokovic, and a prosperous Murray have overthrown Roger. He later on managed to win the Australian Open (2010) and Wimbledon (2012), but those were the last of his majors achievements and nobody could predict when, and if, he would be able to win another major again.

Extraordinary Roger Federer attacks again

Coming into the 2017 season, there were many speculations about how Roger would perform, specially after knee surgery ,the previous year, followed by five months away from the courts. Nonetheless, Roger astonished the world with brilliant performances and a title in the Australian major, something that not even the specialists had foreseen.

With an intense five sets final, Roger proved that 35 years of age were only numbers, and took his spot under the spotlights of Rod Laver Arena to raise that trophy for the fifth time in his career.

Later on, he continued to impress with some incredible performances at the masters in Indian Wells and Miami, winning both of them and assuming the number one position in the race to London. Things were going great for Roger, but he felt like the clay season in Europe would be too much of a burden to his knees so he decided to skip it. Many specialists criticized his decision saying he would lose his momentum.

The week after the French Open had finished, and Nadal had won his 10th title at the Parisian clay, Roger came back to the grass season with an early loss to Tommy Haas in Stuttgart.

However, he did not give time for speculations about his physical shape and the following week he grabbed yet another title at Halle. Roger entered Wimbledon as the absolute favorite to take the cup and he did not disappoint the expectations. He took advantage of the early elimination of the Big 4 and won the tournament without dropping a set. He became the only man to have ever won the most traditional tennis tournament eight times. The sacred grass of Wimbledon was once more at his feet.

The rebirth of Roger Federer does not make him the greatest tennis player to have ever walked the Earth, as I believe he would have been the greatest even without the wonderful season he is having.

However, rising from the ashes, Roger showed the world that age is only a number, and most importantly, he did it with the greatest of class, sympathy, and humbleness. These traits will mark the courts long after he is gone. Game, Set, Match Mr. Federer.