The Mighty Federer

I finally saw Roger Federer in person yesterday, at the finals of the Estoril open. I had been waiting to watch him since I'd heard that he would be playing in Estoril this year.

The atmosphere at the sporting complex at Oeiras (not Estoril) was great. The sky was clear for most of the time and there was no interruption because of rain, like the women's final a few hours earlier. The overwhelming majority of the crowd were cheering Federer. Only a handful were supporting Nikolay Davydenko, and if I were in his place, I'd have felt quite intimidated. But unlike in sports like football and cricket, the cheering was within the limits of decency and sporting spirit.

FedEx certainly deserves all the praise he gets. His technique is awesome and his style is almost artistic. He had a tough opponent in Davydenko, who seemed to be able to respond to Federer's tactics. But we were all deprived of a potentially nail-biting game after he had to retire because of injury after losing the first set but breaking Federer's service in the first game of the second.

But Federer should have got good practice and after a good run at the Monte Carlo open, this could well be the year he won his first French Open title.

Allez, Roger!