Roger Federer and Dreams Destroyed

Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer last weekend for the championship of the Australian Open. Afterwards as he was thanking the sponsors for his second place check of $650,000, Federer broke down and began weeping. “This is just killing me,” he said, clearly devastated by his loss which prevented him from tying Pete Sampras’s record of 14 Grand Slam Championships.

Clearly Nadal, five years younger, is in his head. The only way to prove his championship mettle is to work through his Nadal jinx and beat him a couple times in Grand Slam events. Federer is still a young man and in his prime. He should be able to play Nadal even up if he can get his head straight.

But what I found fascinating is Federer displaying such weakness in the face of an opponent. One of the unwritten laws of championship competition is to never show weakness. Respect for the opponent is one thing, tears and weakness another, akin to cowardice and fear.

It seems to be he was overwhelmed by frustration at his inability to assert his will against this dangerous and talented opponent. Like all of us, Roger has his dreams. He has great tennis ability, has worked hard to develop that ability and feels that he should be able to claim the prize he aspires to: the Sampras’ record.

Unfortunately, like happens to many, his dreams seems to have exceeded his skills and he’s now finds himself unable to reach his goal. Is that what’s killing him—that he can’t fulfill his dreams? Or is he weeping at the realization that he‘s not someone special but instead is like so many of us who’ve found our dreams smashed on the rocks of reality? Or is he simply enraged at this punk kid of twenty-two who’s blocking the door to his future?

I don’t have answers but these are interesting questions, as is what Federer’s experience reveals about all this dreaming business. Pop culture has almost made it a mantra that if you have a dream and work at achieving it, you’ll be successful. My experience in my own life and watching others has proven just the opposite. Many people who dream work very hard to make those dreams come true but fail utterly. Look at the thousands who audition annually for American Idol only to find Simon scoffing at their dreams and telling them to go home.

Yet pop culture has got people believing that the dream alone is a guarantee of success. I think that’s wrong and that American society needs to develop a more complex, nuanced view that’s closer to reality. Living in a dream state’s not a good thing, unless you’re Snow White, and the world is far too dangerous for any of us to be lost in a fantasy world.