Invincible..

Give me freedom, give me fire, give me reason, take me higher
See the champions, take the field now, you define us, make us feel proud
In the streets are, heads are lifting , as we lose our inhibition,
Celebration its around us, every nation, all around us...

     These lines from K'naan's FIFA World Cup 2010 theme song reminds me of the spirit in every sport's lover who yearns to watch his favorite team/player take stance and fight the battle against themselves.

         

           It was a similar feeling for thousands of tennis fans, when a once upon a time invincible Roger Federer took on Tsonga at the Wimbeldon last week. For our generation who have grown up watching Federer romance the grass court, dance to the mystic tunes of the game in a lyrical beauty, its a poetic pleasure to watch his game. 'Ali' Tsonga managed to create 'the upset' of the Wimbeldon. Was the cherished castle haunting the champion? There have been great souls for whom victory and defeat do not make a difference, but is it false that 'nothing succeeds like success.'?

          By the time I could understand the beauty of watching Tennis, 'Pistol' Pete was no more invincible. The harsh reality of mortality was catching up the undisputed champion. Those were the days of the climax of one of the game's greatest duel 'Sampras and Agassi'(Of course, for a lot of us 'Federer and Nadal' have been the greatest duel). My elder cousin would lament watching his idol go down again and I wondered if the defeat of a player would have so much of emotional resonance in a fan. Time never leaves any question unanswered! Almost a decade later I experience the turmoil.

        A couple of days later Nirmal Shekar wrote - " When that someone else is a genius such as Sampras or Federer, the moment of a rare defeat has a powerful emotional resonance. We begin to question the very idea of invincibility. We begin to realise how short the shelf life of sporting greatness can be and how cruel the scenes can appear to be when the owner of seemingly magical powers is stripped of them in a matter of hours."

     

      Memories of the Ind vs Aus 5th ODI at Hyderabad where India was chasing a mammoth 350 and lost despite a legendary 175(141 balls) from Sachin Tendulkar, haunt me as I write this. From crickblog - "Perhaps the Indian team was paying a tribute to Sachin Tendulkar by reminding him of the days when everything rested on his shoulders, and the end of Tendulkar’s stay at the crease meant the end of the match as far as India were concerned. For India, the equation was simple. For India to win, Tendulkar needed to stay till the very end. It may seem like demanding too much of a man who batted nearly right through the innings." To a million of us, Tendulkar resonates with our own dreams of victory. Our ideas & thoughts of the Utopia, sometimes do find a representation in those moments of sporting excellence. The visual brilliance and the spark of a sense of accomplishment(though it might be momentary) speaks volumes to those in pursuit of the unknown resonance deep down their hearts.

       Sport is a powerful entity. Reminds me of Harsha Bhogle's comment, "What makes these men in their thirties jump and dance in joy like children?"(I am unable to recall the exact words, but I believe the essence was the same.) A friend of mine once said - "The best way to get introduced to a person is to play a game of any sport with him." The only permanence in the glory of the world is transience. But if there exist exceptions which are invincible, the beauty of sport is surely one among them.

Singin forever young, singin songs underneath that sun

Lets rejoice in the beautiful game.

And together at the end of the day.