Strike one off my bucket list.
Finally after missing Roger Federer at three major grand slam Tournaments in London, Paris, and Melbourne the last few years I finally caught up with him at the Hopman cup in Perth Australia last night.
Earlier this year I was complaining to my sales assistant Jimmy, a prominent tennis player in Bali, who ran our Bali Tennis Tournament last year, that I had never seen Roger play live.
He is the only one of the top four players that I have not seen play live and my concern was that he's 37 years old and probably will retire soon.
It would be a sad day indeed if an avid tennis player like myself never had an opportunity to see the greatest man that ever played tennis.
Last night my dream was fulfilled.
After Jimmy advised me that I could probably catch him in Perth at the Hopman cup, which is a tournament several major countries best players competing against each other in singles and doubles, I conceived my plan.
Since last year Roger had won the tournament it is only natural to assume that he would defend his title this year again and he did.
So I went to considerable time and trouble to first of all find out when tickets would be issued and then wait for October for them to finally be released tickets.
Although I paid dearly for some of my tickets I did secure tickets for every night that he plays. In fact last night after discovering that a website that I bought several tickets from may be fraudulent I bought extra tickets and ended up giving them to two nice little old ladies who were waiting at the end of the line to buy tickets.
They didn't believe me so I didn't receive much thanks but I'm sure they were happy later when they were seated in their seats next to my two sons Xander and Darius.
So last night was the first night that he played, representing Switzerland against Great Britain. As expected he slaughtered his opponents.
The bonus I'm getting out of all this effort and time is that it was announced later in the year that he would be playing Serena Williams, representing America. I was fortunate to obtain two tickets for this sold out event.
This is the first time in history they have met across a court in a tennis tournament.
So it's not hard to assume that this is history because it is the first time the greatest man who ever played is playing against the greatest woman that's ever played.
I will lose a lot of sleep tonight in anticipation of tomorrow's event when they face off against each other.
At any rate strike one off my bucket lists with last night's live viewing of Roger.
When you watch him on TV frankly sometimes you wonder how he got to where he is because he doesn't have the strongest serve but he does manage to move around the court.
What I noticed last night is that every stroke is smooth as silk and magical.
It only took me a few minutes to realize why he is the greatest tennis player that ever lived and I'm very honoured to have watched him with my family last night.
Fifty year from now when I am long gone my children will be able to boast to their grandchildren that they saw Roger Federer live.
What a way to start the new year.
Once again it goes to show you as one of the greatest philosophers of all time, Napoleon Hill said "what the mind can conceive and believe the mind can achieve"
December 31, 2018 3:15am
by AP
Source: FOX SPORTS
Roger Federer wins in Hopman Cup opener.Source: Getty ImagesRoger Federer started preparation for his Australian Open title defence in style with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Cameron Norrie at the Hopman Cup.
The 37-year-old Federer sent his 23-year-old opponent from Britain back to reality in a one-sided match lasting just 57 minutes.
The No. 91-ranked Norrie had defeated Greece’s No. 15-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets on Saturday in one of the biggest victories of his career, but was outclassed in his first match against Federer.
“This was a great start but obviously a long way to go here and in Melbourne,” Federer said.
“It’s nice that I’m feeling as good as I am and played a wonderful match against Cameron.”
Federer started the match nervously and dropped the first three points, but dug out of a hole with trademark clutch serving. He discovered his groove by dominating Norrie’s serve and broke in the second game with a powerful cross- court backhand winner.
Federer moved the British player around by crisply hitting the lines as he won five games in a row to take control of the set. Norrie saved two set points in the sixth game to get on the scoreboard and earn applause from the near capacity crowd.
Norrie seemed momentarily inspired as he gained two break points before Federer once again recovered to close out the first set in 31 minutes.2w
The 20-time Grand Slam singles champion broke immediately in the second set and looked sharp as he cruised to an easy first-up victory in the tournament as defending champion Switzerland went on to beat Britain 3-0 in Group B.
Belinda Bencic defeated Katie Boulter 6-2, 7-6 (0) in the women’s singles to clinch the match before Federer and Bencic teamed up to prevail over Norrie and Boulter 4-3 (4), 4-1 in the mixed doubles in the Fast4 format. Federer’s appearances at the past two Hopman Cups laid the groundwork for successful Australian Open campaigns.
Earlier, Angelique Kerber and Alexander Zverev gave Germany a 3-0 victory against Spain.
Kerber ended a five-match losing streak against Garbine Muguruza with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win.
No. 4-ranked Zverev beat David Ferrer 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (0) in the men’s singles match before the German pair combined to win the mixed doubles 4-2, 4-3 (3) in the Fast4 format.
Also in Group B, the United States plays Greece in the only match on Monday.
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