It’s now official, tennis fans around the world will
no longer have the chance to watch Roger Federer play again. The Swiss Maestro,
who was the most dominant player on the men’s circuit for the better part of
the 2000s and 2010s, played his last match and retired from the game at the
ripe old age of 41.
Mr. Federer has been called “Greatest of All Time,” even
though his record hall of 20-Grand Slam wins has been surpassed by his two
biggest rivals, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Given that both men are
considerably younger, its likely that they will surpass more of Mr. Federer’s
records. However, on the night of his last match, the world got to see why Mr.
Federer is considered the “Greatest Ever” tennis player – the obvious outpouring
of emotion from everyone of his rivals at the thought of his exit showed the
world that Mr. Federer had transcended his sport. Like Mohammad Ali in boxing,
Mr. Federer had become bigger than the sport. A list of tributes to Mr. Federer
can be found in the following link.
https://www.atptour.com/en/news/roger-federer-retirement-collection
Furthermore, the one person who seemed particularly distressed
by Mr. Federer’s retirement, was Rafael Nadal, possibly Mr. Federer’s greatest
rival:
This message has become particularly important in a
day and age where you have to be in one camp or another. The most famous
example comes from US politics, where you had former President, George W Bush
talking about “You are with us or against us.” This was then brought to an
extreme under former President Trump, where you were either foaming in the
mouth or drooling at the very thought of his existence.
As with any global trend, America merely provides the
most visible examples. It’s not the only place where this happens. Singapore, has
become increasingly like this, especially when it comes to politics and the
expression of politics – the media. Singapore used to be very simple. There was
one political party, expressing one political view, expressed through one newspaper.
However, in recent years, you’ve seen the proliferation of political parties
and the growth of “online” media. Unfortunately, instead of having a proliferation
of views, you get two. As PN Balji, former editorial director of MediaCorp (and
for the record, my former boss at BANG PR and main contractor on the Susan Lim
and Ku De Ta litigation cases), says, “According to the mainstream media,
everything the government does is right and according to the Online media,
everything the government does is wrong.”
I take my own experiences as an example. I have been “branded”
as “anti-establishment” by a few senior corporate figures but at the same time
I also get accused of being a “foreign talent,” by some of the online crowd.
The reality is that I agree with certain people on
certain occasions and I disagree with them on others. For example, I believe
Donald Trump’s handling of Covid-19 bordered on criminal incompetence but I
give him credit for “operation warp-speed,” which got the vaccine out in record
time.
If I were to move closer to home, my main issue with
the Singapore system is that it’s branded itself as perfect and any criticism
is considered an act of blasphemy and this attitude does get mirrored by the other
side.
I actually think Singapore is on the whole, fairly
well run. However, it is not utopia and active citizenry has to voice that fact
out on a regular enough basis. It is essentially the one thing that an ordinary
person can do to make sure the guys in power don’t develop “God Syndrome.” One also needs to make the point that the
price of being in power and being paid by the public (in Singapore, its lavish pay),
is that you’re going to bear the brunt of public criticism. We don’t criticize the
opposition the way we criticize the government is because the opposition isn’t
in power and not responsible for getting things done.
Sure, extremism sells. Who wants to read a longish
piece that gives you both sides when you can spend ten second on a piece that
gets you drooling or foaming? However, the problem with living in a “cult” is
that you end up living in an enclosed world where you don’t get exposed to “best
practices,” and you end up stagnating. As an ethnic Chinese, I am well aware of
a history where China assumed it was the best at everything and ended up being humiliated
in every sense of the world by countries it thumbed its nose at.
Rivalries and competition should bring out the best in
parties. Look at the car market, where the Detroit Big Three had to make better
cars that were more fuel efficient because the Japanese manufacturers had
entered the market. The existence of a “rival” that you need to respect makes
you look at they may be doing right and change what you may doing wrong.
In boxing, we had Ali-vs-Frazier. Brutal fights and
for a while they didn’t get along but, in the end, they resected each other and
understood the other was essential for their greatness. Top level male tennis
players before Mr. Federer either won Wimbledon or the French open. When Matts Wilander
won three grand slams in 1988, it was the biggest fete since Jimmy Connors in
1974. Then came Mr. Federer who proved that you could win on grass and clay and
suddenly you had Mr. Nadal and Djokovic doing the same.
Mr. Federer will be missed from tennis. As he bows out
of the public stage, we should also miss him for reminding us that greatness is
not a solo act but an act of inspiration for others to aspire to greatness. He
was the living example that you could have rivals who respected you and that
life is not an extreme of this cult or that. Mr. Federer symbolized the better
things that seem to have vanished from the modern world.
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