Wimbledon 2019

People in the future will never believe how fortunate we of this era were — to have seen the Big Three of men’s tennis - each, in their own singular styles and achievements, surpass all who came before. I have long been mad at Roger Federer for surpassing Pete Sampras in Grand Slam wins, but after his loss at Wimbledon today I felt empathy toward him for the first time. He is now looking at the real possibility that, as he begins to fade from competition, his rivals Nadal and Djokovic will surpass him in titles.

Now that he’s an underdog, I might find myself rooting for Fed as he closes his career. He’s not the perfect tennis robot he used to be, and that makes him more attractive to me. He’s 37 and a dad.