Cheryl Murray

• Federer’s tragedy and Rafa’s foot..or Tuesday in Cincy

  2010-08-18 16:34:43
  

  I’ve discovered an interesting phenomenon among even the most seasoned reporters, which is that tennis reporters are often, first and foremost, tennis fans. I bring this up because on Tuesday, I sat in “pre-tournament” press conferences with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
  
  They were scheduled one right after another, which was basically how it transpired if you are willing to stipulate that Spanish time runs anywhere from an hour to 90 minutes late. Anyway, Federer’s was first. He was, as usual, on the sarcastic side. I chalk this up to his being forced to answer the same questions over and over and over again.  Also because I think that's just how his humor runs.
  
  In fact, he gave the answer of the day. Somebody asked him about whether he thought his form was dropping. This seemed to….irritate him a bit, and he pointed out that “people” (read – reporters) had been saying that for more than a year. And then out of nowhere, “I cried at the Australian Open in the final. And that was a big tragedy for everyone…” Someday, maybe I’ll explore why, precisely, he chose to bring this up unsolicited. But for the moment, we’ll just call it amusing and be done with it.
  
  After his presser, several other reporters said they thought he sounded snippy and still others thought he was fantastically witty. One gentleman even brought up the post-loss-to-Berdych-at-Wimbledon presser. And it struck me yet again that the tennis community at large – even the professional one – has taken sides in the Nadal-Federer rivalry.
  
  Rafa’s presser when if finally happened, was largely uneventful – as his pressers tend to be. He was charming and relaxed, just like Federer was and gifted his very delightful smile often. He even cracked a few jokes, the crown jewel of which was the answer he gave to how he’s feeling physically. “Physically I’m perfect……give me two weeks to broke everything.”
  
  Unwisely as it turned out, I stayed in the press room talking with a colleague after Nadal was done. I was quite close to the front and looked up to see him climb down from the podium – and promptly get his foot stuck in the cord to the FastScripts machine. This is the device the nice lady from ASAP Sports uses to transcribe pressers. It looks…well…expensive.
  
  I had sudden images of the machine (and Rafa) flying through the air. And with the sort of eloquence that could only be found in somebody who makes their living crafting words, I said (quite loudly) “Rafa. Foot.” And then “FOOT. FOOT. FOOT!” Not “Rafa, your foot is caught” or even “Rafa watch out”. The look I got was somewhere between “Lady, I speak English better than that” and “where’s security?”. Fortunately at the last minute, he realized what my sputtered sentence fragments meant and untangled his foot. Yes indeed. I’m smmoooooottttthhhhh.
  
  One last thing about Tuesday - I actually saw a grown man wearing Rafa’s striped shirt-brown checked shorts combination. After a brief internal battle in which I imagined scenarios of threats and blackmail, I came to the unwelcome conclusion that this man probably *gulp* dressed that way on purpose. I would have taken a photograph, but I was just so stunned….

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