Tribute To Takao Suzuki - the man who gave Federer many runs for his points

Woo! Wee! Woah! Wow! Wah! Oh man, got nothing much to complain about currently. I mean, I get to sit at home comfortably and watch the Australian Open 2005 LIVE!

Well even if I've got stuff to complain about, they've been overshadowed by the first Grand Slam this year! It's not over yet, but I can boldly claim that one of the best matches of this tournament had already transpired yesterday.

Of course, if you've read the title, you could guess that it's the match between World No.1 Roger Federer and Wildcard Takao Suzuki (seeded at 203). Let me attempt, in futility, to capture a miniscule bit of the excitement in words...but if you want to have the pure results without my commentary, go here.

I believe the 15000-strong crowd had the same thoughts as I did before the match began.

'What? A wildcard against the Federer Express? Damn, that Jap's gonna be dominated. Why don't we just go home right now? Oh nevermind, let's just see how Federer kicks him back to the land of the rising sun, should be an entertaining 45 - 60 mins...just enough time to finish this bloody huge tub of popcorn and barrel O' beer'

How wrong were those thoughts of cynicism...especially mine. Good thing I bothered to watch the whole match, in part cause I wanted to observe Federer's playing. He has been described as possibly the greatest tennis player ever (living or dead). Well, it's more of a theory IMO, but he's definitely a phenomenal player who's been beasting almost every opponent who's come his way over the past 2 years or so.

Well, I seemed to be going off point with those last 2 sentences, but hang on, because in order to understand my admiration for Suzuki, you must first understand the level of his opponent.

Federer was the first to start serving in the match. Within minutes of watching, I realised one thing: either Suzuki was an unknown great, or he rose up to the occasion to do battle with Federer. Those first few minutes got me hooked on the entire match which lasted 1hr 53 mins (way more than I expected it to last at first).

Suzuki was noted as being an aggressive player, constantly rushing at the net. Indeed, the first few games seemed to show Federer rather shaken at his opponent whose racket was always around the net, ready to volley the balls back. Coupled with a 'secret weapon' of good offensive slicing, Suzuki was clearly not what Federer and crowd were expecting.

Soon after a while of premium-quality play, Suzuki had actually broken Federer's serve! Now this was something that made me excited! Could I be witnessing the live, tennis version of Rocky (the movie)? Of how the random underdog fought hard to make every single moment a nightmare for his opponent? I got my answer after sitting throughout the entire match, except for a few minutes when I had visited the toilet after too much plain water (no beer please!).

True to his skill, grit and great adaptation, Federer broke back Suzuki's next serve and they were then holding serve at 3-3. The next few games depicted Federer clearly upping his game to deal with Suzuki's uncanny net instincts, lightning reflexes and amazing athleticism at his age of 28. Also, he had wonderful tactics and the elements to make them work.

Lots of running was involved for both players as they forced each other to run up, down, left and right to retrieve the balls which were travelling to almost every conceivable square inch of the court. Drop shots which barely left the net after they went over. Huge forehands which just touched the baseline. The least number of shots were unforced errors. Really remarkable stuff, a quick calculation of the match statistics will reveal that only 11.11% of points were by unforced errors. That's a real low percentage, dood.

Like what one of my friend commented about tennis compared to a sport like golf; golf is more of a 'you are your worst enemy' kind of sport. Meaning that you always try to outdo yourself, whereas in tennis you can sometimes rely on your opponents errors to let you win.

My point here though is that with such a low percentage of unforced errors, it clearly indicates that both players were hitting lots of winners (it's a tennis term, meaning a point which is won when the ball bounces twice in your opponent's court). And no, neither player would purposely allow the balls to bounce twice on their court if it was within their capability to return it.

Shucks, the whole match was packed to the gills with highlights, I'll be honest and say that I can't remember every single one of them clearly. I think a video of this match can already be made and marketed as a masterclass in tennis. It's really hard to imagine how this match can be topped in terms of sheer excitement, quality and even ethics!

Yep, I'll start commenting on both players court ethics.

Suzuki's probably a great ambassador for Japan in terms of fighting spirit and manners. Twice in the match he had hit lucky shots which dropped after passing the net, making it nigh impossible for Federer to retrieve. If he was an egomaniac, he could have pretended that he made it happen at will, but no, he waved his outstretched left palm at Federer and grinned, indicating that the shot was what we in Singapore would call 'tyco'. Basically telling Federer, 'Sorry about winning the point that way.'

When Federer pulled off a winner around the netpost (you have to watch it to understand how incredible both players were doing then), Suzuki had only one expression for Federer...a huge wide grin. Assuming he wasn't hypocritical or mad, I'd interprete it as 'Damn, I wasn't expecting that return but boy, did you pull it off well! Kudos to you!'

There was a funny moment when Federer asked for a ball boy to pick up an insect (I wasn't sure what it was) off the court because he didn't want to step on it nor kick it to one side, something I usually do haha. The way Federer smacks balls, he could have just smacked the insect to wherever it came from, and then proceed to use another of his Wilson-sponsored rackets, of which I think he has 6 in his bag. Whatever his reasons for not killing the insect invader, he definitely didn't handle it sadistically.

Midway in the match, Federer also had a tyco winner and he too, returned the friendly gesture which Suzuki first showed, which I think goes something like 'Yeah, I may be touted by Rod Laver as the best ever, but even that was a tyco shot, don't give me too much credit for that.'

At any point when either player cried out loud, it wasn't because they were crying foul but rather were lamenting the rare unforced error. Both men handled the points as gentlemanly as possible. I watched an earlier match between two ladies, Sophie Ferguson and Nadia Petrova. Damn, Petrova made lots of noises and had nothing ladylike in her attitude. I could even go so far as to assume she's a sore loser, even though she won the match eventually.

Anyway, turns out that everytime there was a crucial point, Federer would either ace (another tennis term meaning to serve the ball and have the opponent not touch it before it bounces twice) Suzuki, or really start 'digging deep', as the commentator put it, into his well of tennis ability.

The match ended after 3 straight sets with the scores 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. I'm rather ashamed to admit that I did hope it would end quickly cause I was starving and wanted to go out and eat my dinner, but really wanted to see the match to it's end too. Then again, it was like the best movie you could catch, with even more drama, emotion and excitement than a Jerry Bruckheimer production. At 1hr 53 mins, it keeps you wanting more, and yet doesn't seem too short either.

Suzuki, despite having to leave the court in defeat, did not commit hara-kiri with his racket, nor did he hurry off the court like most other competitors. Instead, he bowed in all four directions of the Rod Laver Arena, to thank the crowd for being supportive and cheering for the good points (of which there were plenty), instead of cheering for the top dog. Still with an amicable smile on his face, he left the arena after a show of impeccable manners. Perhaps he cherished the fact that he had the luck to play against Federer, and learn how to improve his game even more.

Federer was humble as always. In his closing speech, he mentioned that Suzuki was a great player, and had forced him to play his best, something that he was always doing to his opponents instead.

The commentators, said a line (paraphrased) which I think captures what I've been trying to elaborate upon, 'The score does not justify the match which had to be witnessed personally to understand how well Suzuki was really playing.'

In closing this post, I'll say that Federer was the better player, but Suzuki has earned my utter respect and admiration. I hope that Suzuki will continue to improve and fight his way up the rankings so that the world will have more chances to witness his superb play and manners which puts so many of the other hyped-up players to shame.

Suzuki, I salute you. And keep grinning! :D