You can type his last name with just your left hand in a matter of seconds. Because when it comes to him, it’s all about making things easy. 

Roger Federer entered 2017 as a 35-year-old. Before turning 36, he has already won two Grand Slams – the Australian Open in January and Wimbledon in July. But now he is 36. Men age, but Federer does not fall in that category. A man gets tired. Federer just goes through time and life like a knife through butter. Smooth, simple and effortless. 

Even when he plays, he’s forever fresh as though he takes a shower after every point, a power nap after every set and a sip of tea after every game. 

I am not saying he’s immortal. But there is something about Federer. Something I haven’t seen in other men. Perfection comes to him as naturally as breathing comes to us. A woman he fell in love with when he had nothing is his wife now, after he has conquered the world. He is still the same guy to her. His four kids are two sets of twins – two girls and two boys. That’s not even perfection, it’s sorcery. But then he is a magician.

One that people will pay good money to watch. And every single show is worth it. Although it’s never about the money, but all about the experience. For Federer is more than just a player to so many of us. He is a beautiful memory that keeps providing fresh moments. When he was young, he seemed like a promise. A promise of a wonderful future. A future that inevitably arrived. 

Federer on court is a performance. There are few better sights than watching this man waltz around in a class of his own. 

He glides as if he is scared to hurt the grass beneath his feet, he smiles as though there’s nothing wrong with the world, he cries as though he’s a kid who is homesick. But may be losing does that to him. He’s at home when he wins. 

Him winning isn’t just a habit he has, it’s a habit we have too. He has been doing so for a long, long time. Clearly he knows something we don’t. Behind that bandanna and wavy hair, lies the secret to ‘tennis immortality’. He picks the times he wants to play now. That’s the only difference. But when he does, he wins. He’s not mocking the rest, he’s simply not 25 anymore. 

They say age is not a barrier but a limitation you put on your mind. He isn’t ageless, he’s limitless. That’s what makes him, him. 

Who do you think is the better player? I won’t offer names of two tennis players. The name remains the same, but there is still a conundrum. The young Federer or the ageing Federer? Tough choice, isn’t it? 

You would say that a young Federer would run circles around any player in the world. He did. But had he met his older self? Nope. The young one was all talent, all energy, all class. The mended one is all mind, all calm, and also, all class. Yes, class is permanent. His beauty will never fade away. Years have come and gone. But somehow that beauty has survived.   

The legacy of Federer on paper will always be his titles, his victories, his pure non-corrupt dictatorship over tennis.

But his true legacy will live on in people like us. People who watched him play. People who watched him grow old and fine, like wine. If anyone who hasn’t seen Federer play ever reads this, I just hope they know that there were some of us who were treated to a man who had divine powers, which he used only for good. No, he did not stop wars nor did he solve any other problem the world faces right now. And as of August, 2017, it is facing a heap. He simply played tennis. 

He was a man who was kind, generous, and more often than not, had an ace up his sleeve, if you know what I mean. His forehand was to die for, and his backhand made life worth living. Like I said, he did not solve the world’s problems. 

But when he played, he made us forget our problems. In those moments, he made the world a better place.