A Triumphant Return

29^THJanuary,2017 saw the finals of the Australian Open and its finalists were completely unexpected. There was a buzz among the crowd and a big match feel was in the air. Maybe the Melbourne crowd was excited that they after 2 years of watching 2 baseline machines battle it out they were getting a matchup with much less machine feel and more human effort. With Federer vs Nadal they were expecting a match of the skilful artist going up against a man who functioned on willpower and raw aggression. It was a throwback to 7 Grand Sam finals contested between 2006 and 2009 between the duo and a repeat of the 2009 Australian Open final. No one quite manages to evoke the same excitement among the audiences like Federer and Nadal did and still despite their advanced years continue to do so. Both the competitors had played 5 set semi finals (by luck of the draw Federer had an extra day to recover). In 2009 Nadal had played a 5 setter and then beaten Federer in another 5 setter. When reminded of that he rightfully said, ”I was 8 years younger.”

The sun was setting and the game started under the twilight sky. The lights of Rod Laver Arena were on and the crowd in the arena and millions all around the world sat back and savoured this. It was a Grand Slam final and given the age and physical condition of the 2 it would probably be their last Grand Slam final contest.

The two finalists had met in October for the opening of Nadal's academy and Nadal had a taped wrist and Federer was on one leg, at the time neither of them believed that they would be in a slam final and yet here they were, it didn't matter who won or lost for the effort to reach the final itself was equivalent to a triumphant return.

They traded the 1^st 4 sets with Federer winning the 1^st and the 3^rd one and Nadal winning the 2^nd and the 4^th.
The 5^th set saw Federer get broken and then he was down 3-1 and a victory for Nadal seemed like an inevitable conclusion. Federer then held on so as to keep within striking distance and made it 3-2. He then managed to break the Nadal serve and then he held on to his own serve in 1 minute and 25 seconds. Game on Federer! He had the momentum on his side. Nadal was now under pressure. The crowd was firmly in Federer’s corner (he has that ability to draw the crowd to him, even if Nadal was an Australian the fans in Melbourne would be cheering for Federer). At 4-3 40-40 I could feel my heart beating, he was now in the match and had a chance to go in front. I kept on whispering," one point at a time," under my breath. The feeling of disappointment at 3-1 had completely gone and I was just hoping… praying that he wouldn’t throw it away. There was a 26 shot rally which was in my opinion the point of the match which Federer won after trapping Nadal on the backhand side and then firing a blistering forehand winner down the line to the Nadal forehand. He lost the next point to take it back to deuce but quickly regained the advantage and then drew an error by sending Nadal out wide on the forehand side. The double break had been achieved by Federer and now he was a break in front and at 5-3 would be serving for the Championship(At this moment memories of the 2010 U.S.Open semi final came back(Federer had been serving at 5-3 and had two match points only to lose both of them and eventually the match to Novak Djokovic) his 5^th in Australia.
Final set, it was just nearing midnight, after 3 hours and 37 minutes Federer lead 5-3 and had an advantage point, he was serving for the match. He hit a serve down the T, Nadal just got it back in play with no particular venom in it, Federer came to the service box line and hit a forehand drive volley, it seemingly caught the line, Nadal asked for a review(the curse of reviews are that when used at a time like this they take away the initial emotion of the victor for the celebration would’ve been better had Federer celebrated that point immediately after it was won rather than half a minute later when Hawk-eye confirmed that the ball had indeed clipped the line)
The ball was in, Federer leapt up in joy and I in my room where I was watching let out a yell of joy. The demons of Wimbledon 08’ and Australia 09’ had been banished. Though for a while it did seem that Federer would not have enough in the tank to prevail in a deciding set. When Nadal won the fourth set to tie it at 2 sets all I was nervous as Federer being 35(the age at which tennis players have usually been retired for a year), had a better chance of winning the match the shorter it was. The medical time out made it even worse. I was like, "Oh God nooo! Please don’t let him have a niggle affect his level of play now of all times." He had taken a similar time out in the semi-final which turned the match on its head.
When the ball clipped the line, Federer silenced everyone who had doubted him for over half a decade since his last grand slam win in 2012, The doubters who  said he was past his prime, who said that at world no.17 he wouldn’t be able to go past the fourth round on account of meeting a top seed there, who said that the 6 month injury layoff would be the thing that ruins him had all been proven wrong. He had become the first man to win 3 different majors 5 or more time(5 U.S.Open and 7 Wimbledon)
The win made Federer the 2^nd oldest winner of a Grand Slam and oldest since 1972.

He had increased his Grand Slam tally to 18 which took him 4 clear of Nadal and 6 clear of Djokovic. The comeback had been successful and THE KING has returned to his throne. Based on how he was playing at that age we can see that despite him winning his 89^th trophy and crossing a 100 million dollars in prize money he is still hungry for more and eager to compete with the other members of the Big 4 and the next generation players like Nishikori, Dimitrov, Raonic,etc. The return was fabulous for both players but history will remember it as the one in which Federer came back and won his 18th Grand Slam and had A TRIUMPHANT RETURN!