Comparing two rival personalities is what makes tennis contests a compelling narrative. The US Open will continue the ‘Big Story’ with Federer and Nadal
Every time I hear or read a sports-related discussion, I’m reminded of a cartoon I once saw on a Web site. One stick figure says to another, “A weighted random number generator just produced a new batch of numbers.” “Let’s use them to build narratives!” replies the other.
Describing McEnroe’s pursuit of Borg, Tignor writes: “At its deepest psychological level the match was a case of a little brother trying to slay a big brother, an acolyte attempting to kill an idol.” McEnroe had looked up to Borg, holding him as a personal standard, ever since he had served as a ball-boy during one of the Swede’s early matches; for him, the only truly meaningful way to reach the apex of his sport was by conquering his idol.
But sporting comparisons are never so facile, and there is simultaneously a counter-narrative that casts Nadal as the modern-day Borg. There is a 30-year age difference between these two champions, almost to the day, and both were very early bloomers. Like Borg, Nadal is a master of the natural surfaces, a clay-court monster who recently equalled the Swede’s record of winning six French Opens and then successfully adapted his game to grass. The words used by Time magazine to describe Borg in 1980 — “an inexorable force that is one part speed, one part topspin and two parts iron will” — read like a sketch of the Spaniard.
(This story appears in the 09 September, 2011 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)