The King Is No More

This morning I watched the king say goodbye to the game he has ruled over for nearly 20 years.

Watching Rafa & Roger play on the same side of the court in the Laver Cup at the O2 was a perfect way to call time on his reign.

A match start delayed by Andy’s match going to a Championship Tie Break meant it had gone midnight by the time Roger & Rafa finally succumbed, having had match point themselves.

Roger’s on court post match interview with Jim Courier was just class. Tears all round including Rafa court side looking on. Roger’s family in the crowd were struggling to hold it together. Roger himself failed miserably.

When his two sets of twins (Of course Roger has the perfect family) arrived on court upset because daddy was crying, he did his best to convince them these were “happy tears”.

Not many players get to call time on their career in such style. Roger had Andy, Novak, Rafa & my ultimate idols as a child, Bjorn Borg & John McEnroe with him.

It really can’t get much better than that. I first saw Roger live at Wimbledon against Tim Henman (yes he was there last night as well) back in 2001. I had to settle for seeing his last match on TV. That said I loved it. In my humble opinion Roger is the greatest. The record books may say different but we all know it isn’t really all about the numbers.